The contract for Iran’s oldest oil field was inked during a ceremony attended by First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber and Oil Minister Javad Owji.

NIOC and SEDCO held intense technical, contractual, and financial talks in line with the country’s macro policies under the 13th administration and five-year development plans before signing the 14-year contract on development and exploitation of the northern wing of Masjed Soleyman oil field and cumulative production of some 21 million barrels of crude oil.

The executive operations of the project include the drilling of 15 new wells (13 horizontal production wells and two delineation-production wells), the repairing, completing and operationalizing of five existing wells, the installing of 70 downhole pumps with the contract period, the overhauling of the existing exploitation unit, the building of roads, well sites and surface facilities including wellhead equipment, flow pipelines and separator, and the updating of reservoir simulation models.

Masjed Soleyman, which is home to the oldest oil field of Iran and the Middle East, is located in southwestern province of Khuzestan.

CNPC International (CNPCI), a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, carried out the first stage under a buyback contract and the Iranian experts will do the job in the second phase, indicating Iran’s progress in the exploration and production (E&P) field in the upstream sector of the oil industry.

Masjed Soleyman’s oil in place (OIP) is estimated at 6.2 billion barrels, with its northern wing containing around 1.2 billion barrels of OIP.

It was May 26, 1908 when oil gushed out from Well No. 1 in Masjed Soleyman. So far, around 1.3 billion barrels of oil have been recovered from the field.