Iran, Norway sign oilfield study agreement
Norway’s Offshore Resource Group signed a memorandum of understanding with Khazar Exploration and Production Company to conduct studies on developing Sardar Jangal oil and gas field of Gilan Province in the Caspian Sea as well as the offshore exploratory blocks of 24, 26 and 29.
The agreement was signed by Jostein Kaare Kjerstad, ORG’S executive director and KEPCO’S managing director, Mohsen Delaviz in Tehran in a ceremony attended by Norwegian Ambassador Lars Nordrum, Shana reported.
Pointing to the long history of Norwegian companies’ presence in Iran’s oil and gas industry, Nordrum noted that the agreement marks the beginning of a potentially extensive collaboration between the two countries’ energy companies.
“Oslo is willing to expand ties with Iran via technology transfer due to the implementation of the JCPOA [the formal name for Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers],” Nordrum noted, adding that Caspian Sea offshore structures let his country extend its cooperation with Iran’s neighboring states in the northern region.
Iran’s oil and gas developments are mostly concentrated in the south where it shares the giant South Pars Gas Field with Qatar in the Persian Gulf and several oilfields with Iraq.
Sardar Jangal field contains an estimated 1.4 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in-place and some 500 million barrels of recoverable crude.
The Caspian region is one of the oldest oil-producing areas in the world and is an increasingly important source of global energy production. It holds an estimated 48 billion barrels of oil and more than 8 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in proven and probable reserves.
Founded in 1999, ORG is provider of technologies and solutions with proven results from 17 years of operations. ORG’S strategy is to invent and develop technologies that offer substantial costs savings and risk reducing elements defined as mission critical by the oil companies.
Norwegian firms are expanding their foothold in Iran’s lucrative and untapped energy market gradually.
Norway’s Saga Energy signed a €2.5 billion ($2.94 billion) contract in Tehran last week to build solar power plants in Iran — a flurry of deals by foreign companies since the easing of international sanctions on the country in 2016 after it agreed to limits on its disputed nuclear program.