TEHRAN (PIN) – The first phase of Mansurabad oilfield in Khuzestan Province, southern Iran, was officially inaugurated Monday.

Seyyed Ja’far Hejazi, Khuzestan Province governor general, Behbahan governor, managers of National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), and a number of provincial executive managers were present in the opening ceremony.
Delivering speech in the ceremony, NISOC Managing Director Seifollah Jashnsaz said the implementation of development plan of the field was based on an initiative of domestic oil experts, increasing the company’s technical and engineering know-how.
According to the previous forecasts, it was not possible to develop Mansurabad field by the next two years, recalled the official, adding but an innovative plan helped provide the necessary facilities for the early production of the field at a short time.
The installations included pipelines linking three wells, inlets, two electric pumps, and power transmission line. According to the NISOC head, the field is estimated to have nearly 3.7 billion barrels of in-place oil in its Asmari and Bangestan reserves and its first phase adds the company’s output by six thousand barrels per day.
“Furthermore, domestic consultants have started conducting studies on installation of systems for a 30 thousand bpd ceiling output and collection of associated gases,” said Jashnsaz, adding the project would be carried out by March 2010.
The managing director said a well of Khoyz oilfield in the vicinity of Mansurabad oilfield had become also operational, currently yielding three thousand barrels of oil a day.
He expressed his appreciation to National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) officials for their unflagging support, adding four oilfields had been developed since last year – Paranj with a daily output of five thousand barrels, Mansurabad with six thousand bpd, Chahar-Bisheh with three thousand bpd, and Palangan with one thousand bpd (totally 15 thousand barrels per day).
Mansurabad and Khoyz oilfields are located 10 km northeast of Behbahan and their operations are carried out by Gachsaran Oil and Gas Exploitation Company.
Jashnsaz announced that NISOC had produced 19 thousand barrels of crude oil daily more than the figure targeted by the Petroleum Ministry.
He added, “The Petroleum Ministry had defined maximum 3.211 million barrels of crude oil per day for NISOC in the current year, but the NISOC managed to yield 3.23 million bpd through round the clock efforts of staff in the vast oil-rich fields of the south.”
He referred to the implementation of 615 projects with a 77 trillion rial (8.3 billion dollar) budget in the southern fields within three years, adding, “Some part of projects is underway and scores of them will be carried out in the near future.”
According to the NISOC chief, 70 percent of the fund would go for boosting the production capacity that would cover 209 projects.
Jashnsaz said NISOC faced no problem to put oil and gas projects into practice this year as it had received 10 trillion rial (1.08 billion dollar) budget for the purpose.
The managing director said the company was currently supplying the feedstock of some petrochemical plants in Bandar Imam, southern city of Mahshahr.
“NISOC is producing 153 thousand barrels of gas liquids a day and dispatches to petrochemical complexes,” said the official.
He said the projects on collection of associated gases were of great importance as they served environmental and economic interests.
“Amak plan is among the country’s big projects in the southern oil-rich fields,” said Jashnsaz, adding Amak alongside Koupal, Maroun 3, and Ahvaz 1-3 plans had become operational and Mansuri and Ab Teimur projects were undergoing final stages and would be expected to come on stream by the end of Current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2008).
“The company is planning to produce 40,000 barrels of crude oil from Azadegan field per day,” said the NISOC managing director.
Jashnsaz added preliminary studies on the plan were being carried out by NISOC and Petroiran Development Company.
He said that major objectives of the plan included using investments optimally, obtaining needed information, producing 20,000 barrels per day crude oil in the first stage, testing production, using oil revenues, and starting early production in six months.
He said NISOC, as Iran’s largest oil and gas producer, was purchasing its needed equipment from 100 local manufacturers.
Jashnsaz told PIN that NISOC aimed at supporting and strengthening domestic industries and industries, saving foreign currencies, and reviving and promoting self-sufficiency and self-confidence culture among local producers.
“The company also identifies domestic manufacturers particularly in the southern province of Khuzestan to provide the required parts of oil industry in the southern region, promotes the quality of small workshops’ products, and turns them to large technical and engineering plants,” said Jashnsaz.