Iran plans to assign development of seven oil fields to Russian companies, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said, explaining that Russian companies would develop and increase the recovery rate of the fields.
Iran has already signed the memorandum of understandings with Lukoil on studying Ab-Teymour and Mansouri fields, which contain over 5 billion barrels of recoverable reserves, with Zarubezhneft for study of Aban and Paydar Gharb fields and Tatneft for study of Dehloran field, Trend reports.
Russian oil company Gazprom Neft has signed a deal with National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to participate in the development of the Cheshmeh Khosh and Changule fields in Iran, the Energy Ministry said on Tuesday on its Twitter page.
"I hope that today, with the signing of the document, Gazprom Neft starts operation at two fields in Iran," Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said.
Iran’s oil fields’ recovery rate is about 25% averagely, but some of giant fields like Yadavaran and Azadegan have about 6-7% recovery.
All of the mentioned fields are among the 49 fields which Iran offered to foreigners based on the newly designed model contracts, called the Iran Petroleum Contract or IPC.
Alexander Novak said last October that Zarubezhneft will take up several projects worth a total of $6 billion in Iran’s oil industry.
A leading analyst of the National Energy Security Fund, a lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Igor Yushkov, in turn, explained Iran's desire to give Russia a number of fields by the lack of finance for their own development. "In fact, Iran has no money to develop these fields, therefore, it is faced with a choice: either it keeps them, and they remain not developed, or it gives them to foreign owners,which develop them at their own expense, and Iran receives at least part of the profits," he pointed out.
