IRNA reported that contract to develop Azar and Changouleh oilfields will be signed with Iranian oil executives.

Mr Hamid Karimi project manager of Azar said that IRR 252 billion contracts have been signed with the West Region Power Company affiliated to Iran Power Generation Transmission and Distribution Management Company to supply electricity to the project.

He said that the project has had 75% physical progress thus far and will be finalized by the next 3 months. Iran's Oil Ministry has signed a USD 1.9 billion contract with a consortium of domestic companies for the development of the Azar oil field.

The contract was signed by Mr Ahmad Qalebani MD of the National Iranian Oil Company and head of Iran's Oil Industrial Engineering and Construction Company Rokneddin Javadi. The Iranian consortium consists of OIEC and the Oil Pension Fund Investment Company.

Mr Rostam Qasemi oil minister of Iran said that the ministry pursues the policy of increasing oil and gas production. Early production from Azar field will reach 30,000 barrels per day in next the 36 months and will finally hit 65,000 barrels per day. Before assigning the project to the domestic consortium, Iran was negotiating the development of Azar oil field with Russia's Gazprom Company.

However, it was announced on Sunday that Gazprom company had been dropped from the project due to its failure to meet its commitments and would be replaced by a consortium of Iranian companies. The Azar oil field spans an overall area of 482 square kilometers in southeast of Mehran town in the western Iranian province of Ilam.

Source - IRNA

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