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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (1289)	7/27/2005 11:27:59 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 24213

Incompetence or Iran at Peak? Iran needs foreign firms to stop oil depletion BAHREGAN, Iran: Iran’s crude output capacity is depleting by up to 400,000 barrels per day each year, showing the need to overcome conservative objections to foreign investment, Iran’s oil minister said on Tuesday. “Our fields are depleting by between 300,000 and 400,000 barrels a day each year,” Bijan Zanganeh told reporters in the southern Iranian town of Bahregan. “With heavy investment, there is capacity for one million barrels per day (bpd) to come from unfinished projects,” he added. Zanganeh’s figures are in line with upstream analysts who say Iran’s biggest oilfields are losing between seven and eight percent of output each year. A 300,000 bpd figure would represent 7.5 percent of Iran’s four million bpd production. Iran is struggling to keep production static through oil projects developed by foreign firms. The Gulf fields of Soroush and Nowruz, which Zanganeh travelled to Bahregan to officially inherit from developers Shell, will add about 190,000 bpd to Iran’s total capacity. The Darkhovin field, run by Italy’s ENI in the southwest province of Khuzestan, Iran’s oil heartland, is producing 55,000 bpd. Iran hopes the field will crank production up to 160,000 bpd by the end of 2006. The offshore Doroud field in the Gulf was developed by ENI and Total. “The Doroud oilfield should reach 167,000 bpd by the end of March 2006,” Zanganeh said. Conservative objections: Iran’s resurgent conservatives have opened fire on foreign-run energy projects, saying the oil ministry awarded contracts to foreign firms although Iranians could have done them just as well, but at a lower cost. Their camp is buoyed by the presidential election win of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June who has vowed that foreigners would not be favoured in investment deals. reuters dailytimes.com.pk