Iran Plans to Boost Its Share in Overseas Oil and Gas Fields

Iran plans to boost its share in oil and gas fields it co-owns with other countries, said Amir Hossein Zamaninia, director for international affairs at the Iranian Oil Ministry.

“There are plans underway for increasing the share of Iran in oil and gas fields in other countries. But, no final decision has been yet taken and we are studying the case,” IRNA news agency quoted Mr. Zamaninia as saying on December 15.

Referring to the likelihood of increasing share in Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas field, he said: “Shah Deniz field is one of the [mentioned] fields, but the final decision has not been taken.”

Iran owns a 10% stake in the Shah Deniz project.

Mahmoud Vaezi, minister of communications and information technology of Iran, said in August that Iran intends to increase its stake in the largest Azerbaijani gas project Shah Deniz.

“The Iranian company NICO [National Iranian Oil Company] owns equity in the Shah Deniz project, and we have held talks to increase its stake in the project,” said Minister Vaezi.

The National Iranian Oil Company also has a 50% stake in the Rhum gas field, located in the UK North Sea. The other half of the stake is owned by BP.

Rokneddin Javadi, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company, last month said that less than 30% of Iran’s recoverable oil and gas reserves have been developed so far.

“Our recoverable oil reserve is about 158 billion barrels, accounting for ten percent of the world’s total reserves.

“Regarding gas, the situation is much better, so that Iran holds 34 trillion cubic meters of gas, accounting for 18 percent of the world’s total reserves.”