| Iran
to announce Bangestan oil field tender winner soon
Posted: 14 May 2003
TEHRAN (Dow Jones) — National Iranian Oil
Co. (C.NIO), which plans to develop only one of the three delineated
fields in the coveted Bangestan oil reservoir, will announce the
winner of the tender offer to develop the Ahvaz field soon, reported
the official Islamic Republic News Agency on Saturday.
"Initially, it was intended to have the development of the
Bangestan oil reservoir in three fields of Ahvaz, Mansouri and Ab-teymour,"
said the head of state Oil Engineering and Development Co. Ali-Akbar
Vahidi. "But due to the complexity of the field, presently
(only) the development of Ahvaz field and detailed studies on Ab-teymour
and Mansouri are intended," he said.
Bangestan, one of the biggest projects tendered by the National
Iranian Oil Co., or NIOC, in 1988, is in southwestern Iran and the
companies competing on the project are BP PLC's (BP) British Petroleum,
Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. (RD) and the TotalFinaElf SA (TOT).
The full development of the three fields could take about a decade
at a cost of around $3 billion with an estimated final production
of 650,000 barrels a day.
"The technical reports submitted by the participating foreign
companies in the tender have been examined and the financial packages
have been opened and are being evaluated," he said adding that
the winner will be announced "very soon" in the project.
According to Iran s oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, the NIOC
was supposed to announce the winner of the tender offer in March
2002. Vahidi said the delay in the announcement of the winner stems
from repeated changes in the manner of the development of the reservoir
by Iran. The changes include the imposition of fines for inadequate
use of domestic expertise, a long-term commitment by the contractor
and the inclusion of clauses for the correct use of the field to
ensure maximum return.
Vahidi said Iran is looking forward to a production of around 260,000
barrels a day after the completion of the Ahvaz field in the reservoir.
He didn't give the estimated development fee.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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