TEHRAN – Head of Iran’s Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) has said the company is planning to increase the output of the oil fields in the West Karoun region to 1.0 million barrels per day (bpd), Shana reported.

Stating that all the projects in the West Karoun fields have been assigned to capable contractors, Abouzar Sharifi said: “By financing and carrying out the next phases of the development of West Karoun fields, in a gradual process, we will reach the daily production of one million barrels in this region.”

He further noted that in the last three years, 67 wells have gone operational in the South Azadegan joint field which is located in the mentioned region.

“The implementation of mentioned wells has increased the production capacity of this field by 70,000 barrels per day, and the output of this field has now reached 140,000 barrels per day despite the natural decrease due to the specific conditions of the reservoir,” Sharifi explained.

West Karoun oil fields, which Iran shares with Iraq in the western part of Iran’s southwestern region of Karoun, include five major fields namely North Azadegan, South Azadegan, North Yaran, South Yaran, and Yadavaran.

West Karoun holds great importance for the country’s oil industry since according to the latest studies, its in-situ deposit is estimated to be 67 billion barrels containing both light and heavy crude oils, and therefore it could have a big impact on Iran’s oil output increases in the future.

Back in July 2023, the managing director of Arvandan Oil and Gas Company (AOGC), which is a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) operating oil fields located in the West Karoun region, said the output from West Karoun oil fields increased by 20,000 bpd in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19).

Speaking in a meeting with Sharifi and some of the region’s oil industry officials, Abdollah Ozari said: “We were able to increase oil production in West Karoun by 20,000 barrels by moving some of the oil flow lines of wells in South Azadegan field to prevent oil pushing back from high-pressure wells to low-pressure ones.”

Sharifi also pointed to some of the measures taken for the development of fields in the West Karoun region, saying: “We plan to hand over 17 new wells to AOGC next week, which will further increase the output from fields operated by the company.”

EF/MA