Iran is in talks with several domestic companies to extract more oil from South Pars after foreign companies abandoned the plan in the face of US sanctions.

South Pars is the world’s largest gas field, but it also has significant oil reserves which Iran shares with Qatar across from the Persian Gulf.

According to Managing Director of Pars Oil and Gas Company Mohammad Meshkinfam, almost 25,000 barrels a day of oil are currently extracted from South Pars oil layers. Qatar, in comparison, produces 300,000 barrels a day.

Iran’s development of the South Pars oil layers is still at the pilot phase, but the country sees positive prospects for 150,000 barrels per day of recovery in the currently producing reservoir.

Officials have said the development of the layers is a complex process requiring integrated development.

“We are looking for a competent contractor who can make a commitment on production. Iranian companies are interested in getting money and digging wells. We are looking for cumulative production,” former deputy head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Gholamreza Manouchehri has said.

The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) was in talks with Denmark’s Maersk Group for the second phase development of the South Pars oil layer.

"Using modern technologies and horizontal drilling in view of the heaviness of the oil at the South Pars layer are the most important development scenarios for this oil field which is shared with Qatar,” Manouchehri said in October 2016.

Only a few international companies are in possession of such technologies, with the Danish company considered to be a “powerful” candidate for the development of the South Pars oil layer, Manouchehri said.

However, French oil major Total’s acquisition of Maersk’s oil and gas business in a $7.45 billion deal cancelled out Iran’s plans.

Total, which had signed a contract to develop phase 11 of South Pars gas field, withdrew after the US imposed sanctions on Iran last year.

On Wednesday, ISNA quoted Meshkinfam as saying that several Iranian companies are negotiating to take over the development of the South Pars oil layers.

“Since Maersk merged into Total, we stopped negotiations with the company due to the presence of Total on the Qatari side. At present, we are negotiating with some Iranian companies to develop the layers, with the negotiations being confidential,” he said.

About the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)

Since 1951, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has been directing and making policies for exploration, drilling, production, research and development, refining, distribution and export of oil, gas, petroleum products.

NIOC, with a vast amount of oil and gas resources, is one of the world’s largest oil companies. At the present time, it is estimated that the company holds 156.53 billion barrels of liquid hydrocarbons and 33.79 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.

With advances in technology and increasing complexities of economic and political relations, NIOC has risen to a privileged status. Therefore, national and regional policies and cooperation with industrial countries in the provision in the supply of energy and stabilizing global oil markets are on the agenda of NIOC. On the verge of the fourth decade of the Islamic Revolution, oil industry workers have every reason to be proud of their achievements before the noble people of Iran, and they pride themselves on having learned the lessons of self-assurance and dignity.

NIOC, in accordance with Article 44 of the Constitution, gives authority to different sectors, while supervising oil industry activities. The company has taken major steps toward establishing business enterprises, funded financial resources for development, helped to update technologies for exploration, drilling and production with reliance on the knowledge of Iranian experts.

NIOC consists of seventeen production companies, eight technical service companies, seven managements, six divisions (administrative units) and five organizational units.