Speaking to reporters at a press conference, North Azadegan Development Project Manager Keramat Behbahani said “the first phase of the project for development of the Iranian oilfield was completed and put into operation one hundred days ago with a production capacity of 75 thousand barrels of crude oil per day.”
The official underlined that in addition to crude oil, a total of 39 million cubic meters of gas is also being produced on a daily basis; “at the present time, existing facilities offer the capacity to produce a maximum of 82 thousand oil barrels per day.”
Keramat Behbahani also referred to the talks with China’s National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) over development of the second phase of the field asserting “negotiations are still underway as we are expecting to receive CNPC’s proposal for the project.”
Behbahani pointed to initial technical and financial proposal offered by the Chinese side emphasizing “in case of reaching an agreement between National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and CNPC, a buyback contract will be signed.”
He stressed that the completion of phase 2 development project at North Azadegan field will be put out to tender within the framework of Iran Petroleum Contracts (IPC) if the deal with the Chinese party fails to become finalized.
“Currently, the volume of oil in place at the North Azadegan joint oilfield amounts to about 5.680 billion barrels,” maintained Behbahani.
Meanwhile, the official underscored that the figure has reached to a maximum of seven billion barrels on the basis of recent field studies; “during the first hundred days of operation at phase 1 of North Azadegan, approximately five million barrels of crude oil have been produced in the field.”