State-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has announced that the country plans to grant the development of two major oilfields in its southwestern Khouzestan province to two Chinese firms
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is likely to be awarded the development of the second phase of the North Azadegan project, while China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) will take over the development of the second phase of the Yadavaran project, NIOC deputy director for engineering and development affairs Gholam-Reza Manouchehri said.
He added that CNPC and Sinopec possess vast financial resources to develop the North Azadegan and Yadavaran projects, respectively, with the decision on the award of projects to the Chinese companies in accord with Teheran’s strategy to promote economic relations with Beijing.
Negotiations between Chinese and Iranian officials on both projects have entered final stages during Iran’s minister of economy and financial affairs Ali Tayyebnia’s visit to Beijing. A Chinese delegation is scheduled to arrive in Tehran over the next few weeks to finalise negotiations for both projects, including the commercial, economic and technical aspects.
Earlier this week, NIOC director of international affairs Mohsen Qamsari indicated that Iran was in urgent need of at least US$100bn in foreign investments to maximise production from the country’s oil and gas fields as delays are expected to have an adverse impact on the local petroleum industry, Shana reported.
OPEC said in its August 2016 oil market report that Iran produced 3.629mn bpd in July, up from 3.617 bpd in June and higher than 3.096 bpd in Q1 2016.
