Iran: Offshore opportunities

Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference 2016, to be held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in October this year, will be hosting a technical session on offshore industry opportunities in Iran.

Iran, a large Middle Eastern country, has found itself in the energy industry limelight again following the lifting of the economic sanctions earlier in 2016.

The country, dubbed world’s largest emerging market since the collapse of Soviet Union, is now working to boost its oil and gas production to 4 million barrels of oil per day, which, according to recent comments by the country’s energy minister could happen in March next year.

Based on who you ask, Iran is currently producing somewhere between 3.5 million and 3.8 million barrels a day.

Iran has been reported as having the fourth largest oil and the second largest gas reserves in the world, and it has already initiated talks with foreign oil and gas majors with an aim to revitalize its energy sector, crippled by years of sanctions.

According to a recent report by Rystad Energy, a Norwegian energy intelligence group, around $100 billion will be invested in the country’s upstream sector between 2016 and 2020.

Around half of this, Rystad says, will be directed towards the offshore market, which is expected to be at $9 billion this year and grow to $11 billion in 2020.

Rystad says that the majority of the market consists of Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) contracts.

Five new platforms will be commissioned in 2017 at South Pars phase 20 and 21, and more to follow at the $4 billion ENI project South Pars phase 11 as well as at Farzad B discovered by an Indian consortium, Rystad says.

Furthermore, according to Rystad, an increased number of active platforms, together with aging facilities that have lacked investments during the sanctions, will force a rise in the Maintenance and Operations purchases.

Also, the energy intelligence group expects that the demand for drilling contractors as well as well service and commodities will pick up in the coming years since many of the offshore projects under development will go into pre-drilling.

Roughly 25% of the investments are well-related costs; with 22 wells to be drilled over the next 30 months at South Pars Phase 14 and additional infill drilling to start at the producing field, these services will rise in the next few years.

That Iran is working on boosting its offshore sector, speak recent reports that the country has ordered five jack-up rigs from a Russian shipyard, with discussions reportedly held with a South Korean yard for five more offshore drilling rigs.

Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference (OEEC) is an annual event focused on the entire offshore energy industry, from oil & gas to the wind and marine energy.

Join the Technical Conference Session during Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference to be held on 25 and 26 October in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. More information on the “Iran: Offshore Opportunities” session and the whole conference program can be found on the event’s website: www.offshore-energy.biz