Iran to boost oil production in old fields

The National Iranian Oil Company plans to increase production in 10 old oil fields, an Iranian oil ministry official said. Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Department for Coordination and Production Monitoring Amir Massoud Jabbari announced that the company plans to boost production in 10 old fields by 80 percent. "The Iranian oil industry requires 10 percent of oil revenues to be invested in old fields to maintain the production level," he said. He stressed an increase in oil production to 50,000 barrels per day in the old fields has raised the country's oil production capacity. The oil production in Masjed Soleiman oil field increased to 25,000 barrels of oil per day and we hope to see the same figures in Azadeghan and Yadavaran oil fields, he said. The NIOC seeks to increase oil production in its old oil fields and boost development plans through further investments. Iran, which sits on the world's second largest reserves of both oil and gas, is facing US sanctions over its civilian nuclear program. Iranian officials have dismissed US sanctions as inefficient, saying that they are finding Asian partners instead. A large number of Chinese, Indian and other Asian firms have negotiated or signed up to oil and gas deals with Iran. Following US pressures on companies to stop business with Tehran, many western companies decided to do a balancing act. They tried to maintain their presence in Iran, which is rich in oil and gas, but not getting into big deals that could endanger their interests in the US. Yet, after oil giants in the West witnessed that their absence in big deals has provided Chinese, Indian and Russian companies with excellent opportunities to sign up to an increasing number of energy projects and earn billions of dollars, they started showing increasing interest to invest or expand work in Iran.