An article in Iran Newspaper on Wednesday addressed the question how would Iran’s oil industry look like if there were no sanctions targeting the industry and what would Iran’s role in global energy be in such circumstances. Here is an excerpt of the article:
Current situation of Iran’s oil industry
Iran currently has a capacity of 4-million barrels per day production but it actually produces 2.3 million bpd, from which 1.7 barrels are consumed in the country.
Iran’s gas production capacity is one billion cubic meters per day and only 100 million cubic meters is exported.
Iran produces 100 million tons petrochemicals, but its production chain is not still complete. The capacity for refining is 2.3 million bpd, but part of Iran’s refinery plants has not been upgraded.
However, when it comes to quality measures, things get worse. Iran’s oil production recovery factor, for example, is about 25 percent and it falls to 5-10 percent in some oil fields. While every one percent increase in recovery factor means 8 billion barrels of increased production for Iran.
This is also the case with gas production where there would be soon a decrease in production if the required investment and technological overhaul is not implemented.
Experts say that if there was no sanction hurdle on the oil industry path, the industry would be able to absorb as much as foreign investment to upgrade and overhaul so that Iran could become the hub of energy in the region.
Energy expert Nersi Qorban told Iran Newspaper that the United States’ oil reserve is one-third of Iran’s but its production is three times that of Iran and that is also the case with Russia which has less oil reserve compared to Iran. He argued that this is caused by the sanctions and mismanagement.
Little room for recovery
The world is on the verge of energy transformation, as experts say that by 2050, the world energy portfolio will change and fossil energy will have much smaller place in it.
Fereidun Barkshli, an expert on energy, said that oil industry could rarely have positive performance in isolation. He underlined that Iran must engage with international economy and let foreign companies to invest in oil industry.
Sanctions were a blow on Iran’s growing oil industry and its plans to be a hub of energy in the region. Iran is going to use its full capacity to remove sanctions and recover its oil industry and the global status it deserves.
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