Speaking to the Persian daily ’Iran’, Hassan Shokrollahzadeh stated that a drilling rig has already been put in operation in the oilfield, the largest discovered in the country in the past 35 years.

He noted that the project to lay 1,800 km of pipes to transfer oil to exploitation units has started.

The official recalled that six oil wells had earlier been drilled in the region.

Close to $50 million was spent on drilling and technical operations.

Shokrollahzadeh vowed that the oilfield will be commissioned within the next six to nine months. “It will soon start producing 20,000 barrels of oil.“

Azadegan oilfield, shared with Iraq, was discovered in 1999. The field is located 80 kilometers to the west of Ahvaz, Khuzestan province and its crude deposits are estimated at 26 billion barrels.

The project was initially to be implemented by Inpex of Japan under a contract signed with the company in February 2004. The share of the company was then slashed from 75 percent to 10 percent following that Tokyo delayed in fulfilling its commitments after two and a half years of negotiation.

Currently as per planning by National Iranian Oil Company, the NISOC is in charge of the project. Once the oilfield becomes operational, the NISOC will hand over the responsibility to Petroiran Development Company.