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Iran Starts Operation Sorush/Noruz Offshore Oil Fields

Posted on: Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 12:01 CDT

Text of report in English by Iranian news agency IRNA web site

Genaveh, Bushehr Province, 26 July: Oil Minister Bizhan Namdar Zangeneh on Tuesday [26 July] inaugurated the project for development of Sorush and Noruz oil fields in northern part of this southern Iranian province.

The project has been designed to produce 190,000 barrels of oil per day, including 100,000 bpd by Sorush and 90,000 bpd by Noruz oil fields.

Three submersible oil rigs, three wellhead platforms and a floating deposit as well as an oil evacuation unit have been installed in the area within the framework of the project.

Based on studies available, there are 9.898 billion barrels of oil reserve in Sorush oil field, 6.7 per cent or 480 million barrels of which are recoverable in light of the development project.

Noruz field north of Bushehr Province, however, is estimated to have 2.197 billion barrels of crude.

If the targets of the project for development of Sorush and Noruz oil fields are attained, the country's crude output will rise by five per cent and the output of the continental shelf will also increase by 25 per cent to 820,000 bpd.

The Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch/Shell is the contractor in the 1.4 billion-dollar project.

Acting Managing Director of the Oil Engineering and Development Company (OEDC) Ali-Akbar Vahidi Al-e Aqa said recently, "With Sorush and Noruz oil fields development plan coming on stream, the output has so far been fluctuating between 190,000 and 210,000 bpd."

Referring to the investments made in the project, Al-e Aqa said that the cost of the project had earlier been put at about 799 million dollars, but following some adjustments made to the project later on, the figure was raised to 806 million dollars.

He further added, "The total investment made in the project will hit 1,610 million dollars.

Commenting on the project's progress, he stated that the Iranian side of the contract is ahead of the scheduled time and has already carried out 35.2 per cent of its undertakings.

"We are considering the gas injection into the oil field and if required so, the operation will be implemented by the Iranian contractors," the OEDC official further explained.

The contract for development of Sorush and Noruz oil fields was awarded to Shell Development Iran BV in November 1999.

National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) puts the oil reserves in Sorush and Noruz oil fields at over eight billion barrels of heavy crude respectively.

Sorush and Noruz oil fields are located near the largest oil export terminals situated on Kharg Island.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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