The field had declined through age to as low as 3,000 barrels a day a few years ago, a fact that the oil industry preferred not to talk about.
Hormuz Qalavand, managing director of the National Iranian Southern Oil Co., said 15 new wells have been drilled, including 12 that are horizontal wells reaching into areas not touched before. By installing pumps inside the wellbores, production has now been boosted nine-fold, he said.
Qalavand said, “In a century of production, about 20 percent of the oil in Masjed-e Soleyman has been extracted.” He said he thinks that another 4 percent to 5 percent of the oil in place can now be extracted by using new methods.
That same day, Naji Sadouni, managing director of the Petroleum Engineering and Development Co, (PEDEC), said that 700,000 to 800,000 barrels a day of additional oil could easily be extracted from 30 aging and abandoned oilfields by adopting such new technology as borehole pumps.
He said production from Masjed-e Soleyman was expected to rise further to 55,000 barrels a day.