Iran to sign deals joint fields development

Qalebani was quoted by the oil ministry's website, Shana, as telling a specialized oil industry seminar that the implementation of deals signed earlier for the development of oil and gas fields would be accelerated. "In the meantime, negotiations would be held with domestic and foreign companies to enhance recovery from old fields," he said. Qalebani noted that Iran's daily output is to reach 4.1 million barrels from last year's four million barrels. He said the daily output is forecast to reach 4.5 million, 4.6 million and 5.1 million barrels in the coming years. The senior oil official said the projected oil recovery enhancement requires investment. According to the fifth five-year economic development plan ending in 2015, he said, Iran should export 3.36 million barrels of oil. Iran holds 155 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, he said, adding oil accounts for 42 percent of the country's hydrocarbon reserves. Qalebani said Iran is producing 650 million cubic meters per day of gas. The figure, he added, would soar to 1.472 billion cubic meters by 2015 when the giant South Pars Gas Field would have undergone more development. Qalebani, also a deputy oil minister, estimated at 9.3 billion dollars the investment made in the upstream oil sector from 1997 to 1999. "Two-thirds of this investment was provided by NIOC and the rest came from buy-back deals." Iran invested 16.7 billion dollars in the oil sector in 2010. Half this investment came from bonds, energy fund and other methods. Qalebani said no oil and gas exploration operations have been conducted on 40 percent of Iranian territory. "Central zones are the most important exploration operations. We have installed 10 drilling rigs, out of a total 11, there. "Exploration operations are conducted in the zones where joint fields are likely to be discovered," he said. He said 70 to 75 percent of the oil sector's required equipment is manufactured in the country. He added that percentage should rise to 98 based on the development plan ending in 2015. The official said Iran has achieved a good experience in the development of Masjed Soleyman Oil Field by a Chinese company. This field produces 25,000 barrels of oil every day. "Every day, 1.7 million barrels of oil are treated in the refineries. Once developed, the refineries would handle 3.3 million barrels of oil and gas condensates," he said.