Iran awards Darquain oil project to ENI

May 30, 2000
National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) has awarded Italy's ENI SPA a buy-back contract to develop the Darquain oil field. Further negotiations are taking place to tie up the loose ends, according to the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES). The estimated $500-600 million project will be the second awarded to the Italian company, which is already in partnership with TotalFinaElf of France for developing the Doroud offshore field.


National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) has awarded Italy's ENI SPA a buy-back contract to develop the Darquain oil field. Further negotiations are taking place to tie up the loose ends, according to the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES).

The estimated $500-600 million project will be the second awarded to the Italian company, which is already working in partnership with TotalFinaElf of France to develop the Doroud offshore field. MEES reported that Britain's Lasmo PLC and BG PLC had submitted bids for Darquain but that both had admitted that ENI had taken the lead in negotiations in recent months.

Darquain, which lies 45 km northeast of Abadan, has estimated reserves of 289 million bbl of oil. The field's three wells were abandoned because of poor permeability. NIOC hopes to restart production through further development and application of EOR techniques. Darquain is expected to produce up to 200,000 b/d of oil with the installation of facilities over 6-7 years.

ENI reportedly also bid on various aspects of Iran's three-field Bangestan project, which includes the Ab-Teynour, Ahwaz, and Mansouri fields. Other bidders include Royal Dutch/Shell Group, TotalFinaElf and Lasmo. These fields have combined reserves of 5.83 billion bbl of oil, of which 690 million bbl has been produced