Iranian company inks $200m deal to develop joint oilfield with Iraq

TEHRAN,Feb.7(MNA)-- Iran’s Petroleum Engineering and Development Company signed a deal, worth around $200 million, in Tehran on Monday, with a domestic company, named Dana Energy, to develop the Changooleh oilfield, which is associated with Iraq. Naji Sadouni, the managing director of the Petroleum Engineering and Development Company told that the deal is aimed to produce 15,000 barrels of crude in the first phase. The oilfield holds almost 3.4 billion barrels of in-situ reserve. Sadouni said that the development plan has envisaged boosting the output to 65,000 barrels per day in the future. National Iranian Oil Company’s managing director has announced that 20 contracts will be signed by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2012) to develop joint oilfields. Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has said that the country plans to increase oil output by two million barrels per day (bpd) within the next two years. Iran’s oil production is now more than 4 million bpd, according to Qasemi. The Islamic Republic has the world's second largest crude reserves after Saudi Arabia and the second largest gas reserves after Russia.