Iran to begin development of oilfield bordering Saudi Arabia

TEHRAN, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- A senior executive of the Iranian Offshore Oil Company said his country planned to start developing the offshore Esfandiar oilfield in Iran that is connected to a Saudi oilfield, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.

Alireza Mehdizadeh, the company's CEO, said Saturday the first phase of the development project in the Esfandiar field in Iran, which is connected to Saudi Arabia's Lulu field, will be implemented in the next three years, according to the report.

"The design, construction and installation of a well platform and the drilling of four production wells have been proposed in the first phase," he was quoted by the Oil Ministry's news service Shana as saying.

Mehdizadeh added that the production fluids from Esfandiar will be processed at the nearby offshore platform of Abouzar before being transferred to Khark Island, a key Iranian oil export terminal.

Esfandiar, located 95 km southwest of the Iranian island of Khark, is estimated to have more than 500 million barrels of in-situ reserves, according to Tasnim.

Iran has a number of shared oil and gas fields in the Gulf with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, but has lagged behind in its proper development due to the U.S. sanctions.