Nicosia, July 10: Crude oil production from the giant Azadegan oilfield from the current level of 20,000 barrels a day (b/d) will increase to 170,000 b/d, the Managing Director of the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) Gholamreza Hasan Beiglou said.

Azadegan, in the province of Khuzestan, is Iran’s biggest oilfield with an estimated 31 billion barrels of crude oil in an area of
1,400 square kilometres. The oilfield’s recoverable reserves are estimated at 5.2 billion barrels.

NISOC has undertaken the development of the first phase of the project, following the refusal of Japanese Inpex Company to cooperate in the project, as a result of the reduction of Inpex stakes in the oilfield from 90 per cent to 10 per cent.

Beiglou has recently told reporters that the first phase of Azadegan oilfield early production plan has been completed and at present the field’s average production is 15,000 to 20,000 barrels a day.

He added that NISOC’s work programme included bringing six development wells into production, repairing oilfield equipment, laying a 190 km crude pipeline and installing two oil and gas separators. (ANI)