Drilling Rigs In Azadegan Field To Rise To 8

Tehran, July 22, IRNA – Managing Director of National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) Heidar Bahmani declares increase of drilling rigs from four to eight at North and South Azadegan oil fields. Bahmani said Azadegan oil field is shared with Iraq, lying in Khouzestan Province. The field covers an area of about 900 square kilometers, being among the biggest oil fields of the world. Azadegan oil field has one of the world’s largest oil reserves, with an estimated 42 billion barrels in-place oil reserves. Sarvak, Kazhdomi, Godvan, and Fahilan are productive layers of Azadegan field. Crude oil produced by the Fahilan layer is light while the other layers yield heavy crude. Iran holds the world's third-largest proven oil reserves and the second-largest natural gas reserves. The country's total in-place oil reserves have been estimated at more than 560 billion barrels, with about 140 billion barrels of extractable oil. Moreover, heavy and extra heavy varieties of crude oil account for roughly 70-100 billion barrels of the total reserves./end