National Iranian Oil Co CEO Mohsen Khojastehmehr said on 27 December that output from the South Azadegan field, currently 140,000 b/d, will reach the targeted 320,000 b/d by mid-2023. In May last year, NIOC subsidiary Petropars awarded contracts to local firms to drill 25 new wells at South Azadegan (MEES, 28 May).
However, the field, which is central to Iran’s efforts to increase oil production from the ‘West Karun’ cluster of fields on the Iraqi border (MEES, 1 October 2021), is facing problems with its under-construction central treatment facility. On the other side, Iraq’s Basrah Oil Company (BOC) is steadily but slowly raising capacity at its Majnoon field – essentially an extension of Azadegan – from 250,000 b/d to 450,000 b/d (MEES, 17 December 2021). (CONTINUED - 118 WORDS)