Iran to recover extra 3.5 billion barrels of oil through EOR techniques

Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Sunday that oil recovery rate from the Azadegan oilfield, a joint field located on the border with Iraq, would increase from a current 5-6 percent to around 10 percent.

He made the announcement while meeting technicians and engineers from various research centers that are contracted by the Oil Ministry for work on oilfields in Iran.

Zangeneh said the University of Tehran had made a commitment to an enhanced recovery rate (EOR) of 10 percent at Azadegan, a field with oil-in-place reserves of about 33.2 billion barrels.

“This success would mean an increase of around 3.5 billion barrels of oil from to the recoverable resources at this field which is a significant figure,” said the Iranian minister.

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Iran has awarded contracts on EOR and other technological issues for nine oilfields to as many as major universities and colleges in the country.

Zangeneh, a long-serving oil minister who has led the industry on different administrative terms, said that the academia in Iran had become a major part of development plans in the oil and gas sector two decades after the government began to fund courses and research programs on the issue in major Iranian universities.

The announcement on increased EOR at Azadegan come as Iran’s oil industry in under a series of tough American sanctions that are meant to hamper the development of the sector, especially in the technological aspect.

The government has admitted that US bans have significantly affected the direct sale of crude. However, it insists the bans have failed to stop plans for boosting output as the country seeks to regain its share of the global market once the sanctions are removed.