Abdollah Azari-Ahvazi said Wednesday that practical steps have begun to extract oil from the Arvand oil field, which has an estimated 1 billion barrels of in-place reserves. He noted that extracting even 10% of these reserves would be significant.

Ahvazi mentioned that three wells have been completed in the field, and a fourth is underway. However, he acknowledged that there are challenges in extracting oil from the field, which is why the company signed a contract with the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology a few months ago to indigenize and develop hydraulic fracturing technologies.

The CEO of Arvand Oil and Gas Company said preparations are underway to install a drilling rig in the field, which has not seen any development work until now. This will be the first time such work is done in the field.

Azari-Ahvazi highlighted the importance of the Arvand field, which is shared with Iraq and contains light crude oil. He also mentioned that an exploratory well is being drilled in the field, which could help meet some of the needs of the nearby Abadan refinery if it becomes operational.

The meeting, attended by members of the parliamentary energy committee, Hamid Bovard, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company, Mohammad-Sadeq Azimifar, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, and other local officials, aimed to discuss issues related to the oil and energy sector in the region.