TEHRAN – Russia’s Gazprom Neft Company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran’s Oil Industries Engineering & Construction Group (OIEC) for conducting studies on Changuleh and Azar oilfields in western Iran.

The document was signed by OIEC’s CEO Behzad Mohammadi and Gazprom Neft’s First Deputy CEO Vadim Yakovlev in St. Petersburg on Thursday, NIOC portal reported.

The two companies signed a non-disclosure agreement last year to explore avenues of cooperation on the subject and held five joint meetings since then.

The Russian company signed an MOU with National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in December 2016 to conduct development studies on Cheshmeh-Khosh and Changuleh fields. Changuleh has also been awarded to Norwegian oil and gas company DNO for development study.

Azar oilfield started early production in March with an output capacity of 15,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Located in Iran's western region of Mehran along the border with Iraq, Changuleh and Azar fields are part of Anaran block which is estimated to hold 6-8 billion barrels of oil. 

EF/MA