Iran to begin development of joint Arash gas field in Persian Gulf soon

Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr, the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said Sunday that “preliminary and seismological studies have already been conducted” at the field.

“The development plan has been approved at the NIOC and will soon be launched,” he added.

“Developing joint oil and gas fields are among the NIOC’s priorities.”

Recently, Kuwait announced a plan to extract 1 billion standard cubic feet per day of gas and 84,000 barrels per day of condensate from the field under an agreement signed with Saudi Arabia.

Iran dismissed the agreement as “illegal”, saying it breached their discussions to build the field together.

Elsewhere, the CEO of the NIOC praised the surge of 40 percent in the country’s oil production capacity while the country was under US draconian sanctions, which were especially designed to cripple the country’s energy sector.

Iran’s crude oil production capacity has reached the pre-sanctions level of 3.838 million barrels per day (bpd), he said.

“This success was achieved under the toughest conditions created by the sanctions, which is highly remarkable,” Khojasteh Mehr said.

“The NIOC will use all in its capacity for maximum oil production.”