Iran has boosted oil recovery from an offshore field which it shares with the United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf.
Abbas Rajabkhani, the director at the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), added recovery from Salman oilfield rose by 3,000 barrels per day following the development of two wells, Press TVreported.
Iran had been planning to raise output from Salman to 50,000 bpd, according to media reports. The official said two more wells are currently being drilled to further raise output.
"Given the sensitivity of joint fields, drilling operations as well as repair and maintenance works are undertaken regularly," Rajabkhani said.
Salman is an old field in service since 1968 with about 1.6 billion barrels of recoverable reserves. It is currently estimated to hold more than 500 million barrels of oil.
Rajabkhani said increasing oil recovery from the field is a priority and IOOC plans to drill new fields to maximize production.
The platforms on Salman oilfield are some of the biggest in the Persian Gulf with a capacity to produce 220,000 bpd of oil and associated products. They also include gas recovery facilities, which Rajabkhani said, are being prepared for production.
He said the transfer of the Salman gas to Iran's Siri Island could begin in a single train within the next month or in a double train which would take time since it would require repair of the underwater pipeline.
The field is expected to yield 500 million cubic feet of gas per day in addition to 6,000 barrels of condensates once production begins.
Iran's oil recovery from Salman comes from 44 wells which have yielded 700 million barrels so far. A 22-inch pipe takes the offshore oil to Lavan Island 144 km away for processing or exports.
About 70 percent of the field belongs to Iran. The United Arab Emirates, which calls it Abu al-Khosh on its side in Abu Dhabi, has recovered 400 million barrels so far
.