TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s North Azadegan oil field, which the country shares with Iraq in the West Karoun region, is producing 75,000 barrels per day of oil steadily, Mehr news agency reported on Sunday, quoting the director of the field’s development project.

According to Esmail Qolampour Ahangar, five new wells and an assessment well are planned to be drilled in the field in order to maintain the field’s recovery factor after the fifth and sixth years of production.

Three years have passed since North Azadegan oil field started production, the official said.

Regarding the plans for increasing the field’s output, Ahangar noted that in addition to drilling the mentioned six wells, plans have been made for overhauling the already active wells in order to increase the field’s recovery factor.

He added that for the time being, the developers are using the “Gas Lift” procedure in the wells of North Azadegan field to improve the recovery factor and maintain the production level.

West Karoun oilfields, which Iran shares with Iraq at the western part of Iran’s southwestern region of Karoun, include five major fields namely North Azadegan, South Azadegan, North Yaran, South Yaran and Yadavaran.

West Karoun holds great importance for the country’s oil industry since according to the latest studies, its in-situ deposit is estimated to be 67 billion barrels containing both light and heavy crude oils, and therefore it could have a big impact on Iran’s oil output increases in the future.

With the fields fully operational, their output could add 1.2 million bpd to the country’s oil production capacity.

Back in October, Reza Dehqan, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)’s deputy of development and engineering affairs, said production of oil from West Karoun oilfields is expected to increase by 10,000 bpd by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2020).

Referring to Azadegan oil field, the official said we have no plans to cooperate with any Chinese company in the South Azadegan and this field is expected to be developed by an Iranian company, however CNPC is already working on North Azadegan and the field is operational.