Oil exploration in Iran up by five times,
Zanganeh says oil exploration in Iran up by five times
Tehran, June 4,
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that
oil exploration in Iran over the past two years has increased by five
times compared to the two decades between 1979 and 1998.
Zanganeh told the Persian daily `Iran' in remarks published
Monday that oil exploration in Iran rose to 50 billion barrels per
day in the 1999-2000 period from 10 billion barrels per day in the
1979-1998 period.
He said that natural gas exploration in the 1999-2000 period too
stood at 1,400 billion cubic meters. He did not draw any comparison.
He added that 25 billion barrels of oil had been explored from
Azadegan oilfield, 11 billion barrels from Kushk oilfield, 4.5
billion from Mansoorabad oilfield, six billion barrels from South
Pars oilfield, and one billion barrels from Changooleh oilfield,
all in southern Iran.
The minister said the natural gas had been extracted from gas
fields in southern parts of the country, including Kordan, Tabnak,
Karanj, Zireh, and Arash.
He cited the reason for the wide-scale explorations as a change in
the exploration methods. He said there had been efforts to make
maximum use of cooperation with international oil companies and
concentration of resources.
He disclosed that new blocks of oil and gas reserves will be
explored in western, southern and northern parts of the country in
cooperation with foreign companies. He did not elaborate.
He said that thanks to President Mohammad Khatami's detente
policy, the oil price has been boosted and an internal cohesion has
been brought about in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC).
Zanganeh said a considerable number of buy-back contracts concern
joint oil and gas fields.
He said that the government plans to sign more contracts for
development of joint fields.
To preserve oil and gas production in 11 oil and gas reserves,
agreements have been signed for their development, said Zanganeh,
putting the total value of the contracts at dlrs 11.6 billion.
He said the contracts will cover about 98 percent of the joint
fields.
He predicted that under the contracts 3.5 billion barrels of
condensed gas, 2,300 billion cubic meters of gas, 100 million tons
of liquefied gas and 2.5 billion barrels of oil will be produced in
30 years.
He said that under the contracts dlrs 350 billion will be added
to the national wealth in a period of 30 years.
Some of the fields have been developed this year and the project
will continue by the end of the Third Five-Year Economic Development
Plan (2000-2005) and even the early years of the next plan.
He said the projects are expected to earn the country dlrs 16.7
billion. |
