Despite the crippling effect of foreign sanctions, the Iranian government has decided to invest $18 billion in the country's southern oilfields to boost production.
Iran's Deputy Oil Minister for Planning Mohsen Khojastemehr said that the majority of the $18 billion investment schedule, planned to extend over the next four years, will be underwritten by Iran, adding that about $3 billion would be spent on the projected southern projects by March 2012.
Khojastemehr said, "Many plans are being implemented to accelerate development of shared oil and gas fields while the ministry aims to increase oil production in the oil-rich region of the South to 3 million barrels a day," Fars news agency reported.
According to Khojastemehr, Iran's southern Yadavaran oil field is being brought online by Iran's National Oil Company (NIOC) and China's Sinopec and will start production later this year at around an initial estimate of 20,000 barrels per day (bpd), a flow rate that is expected to climb to a ceiling of 85,000 bpd by 2013.
China is now one of the biggest buyers of Iranian crude oil and its top energy company, the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp, or CNPC, has deals beyond Yadavaran to boost output at Iran's North Azadegan oil field and Iran's offshore South Pars natural gas field in the Persian Gulf.
By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com
Charles is a writer for Oilprice.com More