February 15, 2019
For the first time, Iran has discovered an oilfield right in Abadan, which is the center of Iran’s oil industry as the home of its oldest and largest refinery.
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh announced that the discovery on Minoo Island is the first-ever oil find in the general area of Abadan.
Minoo Island is only a few hundred meters from the Abadan refinery. While Minoo is technically an island, only a very small and narrow channel of the Arvand River separates Minoo from the mainland and the city of Abadan.
“Yesterday [January 22] at 10 o’clock in the morning, a well being drilled on Minoo Island reached oil. This is the first time we have discovered oil in the Abadan area,” Zanganeh told reporters after a cabinet session.
“We have a lot of hope to discover [more] oil in the Abadan area and this grade discovered at a depth of 3,770 meters [12,400 feet] has an API gravity of 40, which is very light and sweet,” he said. That makes it especially suitable for making gasoline.
Zanganeh said drilling will continue to determine the total volume in the reservoir and whether that amount is sufficient to invest in producing from the field.
Iran must also determine whether it is an independent field or an extension of an Iraqi oilfield currently producing on the other side of the river border.
Last month, a senior official said Iran was scouring 60 percent of its total area for new oil and gas reserves, including in places which were deemed until recently the least likely to have hydrocarbon-bearing formations.