TEHRAN (PIN) – Drilling operations of an exploration well resulted in discovery of a huge gas reserve in the vicinity of Haftkal, a town northeast of Khuzestan Province, southern Iran.

According to the news headquarters of the 5th Drilling Industry Exposition, the reserve is 28km long and 5km wide.
The onshore operations manager of National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) said a well with a 2,500 meter depth had been drilled in the region in the pre-revolution era, but the well, due to some problems and rigidity of layers, had been deserted.
Mehran Makvandi added the Fat’h Derrick 65 was installed and helped the drilling depth rise from the previous 700 to 4,380 meters.
The NIDC official said the Exploration Department of National Iranian Oil Company was conducting complementary studies on the gas deposit and possible in situ oil of the field.
He said two more wells would be drilled in the near future in an attempt to get further data about the reserve, adding the NIOC would offer its master development plan (MDP) through data gathered from the three wells.
“This is the second reserve in Khuzestan Province that has been discovered with the help of Fat’h Derrick,” said Makvandi, adding Paranj filed had been already explored in the vicinity of Kerenj and Parsi fields in Aghajari.
Director of NIOC’s Exploration Department said Paranj oilfield is located between Kerenj and Parsi fields.
“After 3-D seismological studies were carried out on Kerenj and Parsi fields and the resultant data was explained, the Exploration Dept. reached the conclusion that the field can be appraised as an independent exploration goal,” Mahmud Mohaddes added.
He said explorative drilling on Asmari horizon of Paranj field started in December 2005 and finished in four months, adding the field’s reserves were announced at 600 million to one billion barrels of crude oil in April 2006.
The official added since Paranj field was close to installations related to Parsi and Kerenj fields, production from the field started rapidly.
“Current production by Paranj field is about 7,000 barrels per day and its output can be increased to 40,000-50,000 barrels per day.”