Shell signs MoU for exploration in Iran

SHELL has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to look at cooperation and investment in three of Iran’s largest oil and gas fields.

Iran’s Fars news agency reported that Shell and NIOC will conduct studies on the Azadegan, Yadavaran and Kish oilfields. The deal was signed by Noureddin Shahnazizadeh, managing director of the NIOC’s Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC), and Hans Nijkamp from Shell, in the presence of NIOC managing director Ali Kardor.

A Shell spokesperson confirmed to The Chemical Engineer that the company had signed an MoU to explore areas for potential cooperation in Iran but would not give any details, saying that it was commercially sensitive information and therefore confidential.

The Azadegan field straddles the Iran-Iraq border and is estimated to contain 6.5bn bbl of oil. The Yadavaran oil field, in Khuzestan province, contains around 17bn bbl of oil and already produces 100,000 bbl/d. The Kish gas field is thought to contain at least 50trn ft3 of recoverable gas and 1bn bbl of condensate.

Shell said in October that it was in talks to revive its Iranian petrochemicals activity, and is now the latest in a string of major oil companies to look at a return to Iran, following the lifting of international sanctions on the country in 2016. Iran agreed to long-term monitoring and curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of the sanctions.