Oil and Gas Exploration in Full Swing
Official data show that Iran’s recoverable liquid hydrocarbon reserves have increased to more than 160 billion barrels over the past four decades even though massive recovery has been under way. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGC), Iran comes third behind Iraq and Russia in terms of exploration potential
In the wake of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, a total of 65 oil and gas fields have been discovered in Iran. Lately, Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh had announced oil find in Minoo Island for the first time, saying the new oil was light and sweet. Saleh Hendi, exploration director at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said 390 oil and gas reservoirs had been identified in Iran, 171 of which have been developed. That indicates Iran’s potential in petroleum industry development. He said during early years following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, some people used to say Iran would be running out of oil within 20 to 30 years, “but now 40 years has passed and you can see we have still oil and gas.” He said despite consumption and in light of new discoveries over the past 40 years, volume of Iran’s oil reserves have not changed over these years. “Of course, conditions have improved in the gas sector. The massive gas explored in South Pars has increased the amount of our gas reserves eight-fold compared to the early years of the Revolution. That allays our concerns for the future,” said Hendi. He said a total of 390 oil and gas reservoirs had been identified in Iran, including 258 oil and 132 gas reservoirs.
Hendi said 171 of these fields had been developed. He added that 45% of oil reservoirs and 77% of gas reservoirs remained undeveloped. “These figures show that exploration is ahead of production and are signs of development in the country,” he added. Hendi said that NIOC Exploration Directorate had not been active enough during the 6th Five-Year Economic Development Plan. He said that oil exploration had become more difficult because “structural traps
were ending” and “stratigraphic traps have shrunk in size”. Hendi said over the past three years, 15 exploration well operations had been concluded despite high risks. “Our rate of success during this period of time has been on average 60%. The figure jumped significantly last year and almost all wells completed in the current and last [calendar] year have proven to be successful,” he said. 14 Geophysical Projects Hendi said a significant number of costly geophysical projects had been envisaged for the current calendar year. Despite financial restrictions, NIOC is being effectively supported for the implementation of