Iran has claimed to have made a discovery of as much as 10 billion bbl of oil offshore in the Caspian Sea, but few details have been disclosed.
Various press reports quoted Iran’s Khazar Exploration & Production Co. as having claimed an oil discovery with pay thickness of at least 78 ft at a drilling depth of about 7,900 ft in a deep but unspecified water depth.
Khazar has been drilling in the Caspian since late 2010 with the Amir Kabir deepwater semisubmersible, formerly called Iran Alborz.
Alan Petzet is Chief Editor-Exploration of Oil & Gas Journal in Houston. He is editor of the Weekly E&D Newsletter, emailed to OGJ subscribers, and a regular contributor to the OGJ Online subscriber website.
Petzet joined OGJ in 1981 after 13 years in the Tulsa World business-oil department. He was named OGJ Exploration Editor in 1990. A native of Tulsa, he has a BA in journalism from the University of Tulsa.
