Iranian Oil Minister Reiterates Tehran's Resolve to Develop Joint Oil Fields

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi announced that his ministry plans to concentrate more on developing several oil fields shared with the neighboring countries.
"This year serious development will start in joint fields that count to 27 and we hope the move will yield positive results," Qassemi said, addressing a meeting in Iran's Chamber of Commerce on Sunday.

He also reiterated that Iran's oil production capacity in the fields shared with Iraq should be further increased, saying, "As regards exploitation in our joint fields with Iraq, Iran's share of extraction should be increased."

In August, a senior Iranian oil official announced that the country has worked out an agreement with its neighbor, Iraq, to develop joint oil fields at the two countries' shared borders.

Speaking to FNA, Managing-Director of the Iranian Central Oil Fields Company (ICOFC) Mehdi Fakour said, "We are waiting for the Iraqis to be prepared for inking the deal."

"The contract is presently on the agenda of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and its details are being studied," Fakour stated at the time.

Earlier this year, Tehran and Baghdad agreed to set up joint expert committees to finalize technical and financial details of a deal over developing joint oil fields.

The two countries have 23 joint oil fields in their border regions

In August 2010 Iran started producing crude oil from an oil field shared with Oman in the Persian Gulf's Strait of Hormuz.

Hengam oil field in Qeshm free zone was inaugurated by the then Oil Minister, Massoud Mir-Kazzemi.