(Mehrnews, Oct 28, 2006) Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) Managing Director rejected reports that China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is holding talks with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to develop Iran¡¯s Kish Island gas field.
Talking with the Mehr News Agency (MNA) here on Saturday, Mahmud Zirakchianzadeh added that the project to develop the gas field is in the final stage of bidding to prepare the Master Development Plan (MDP), ¡°but NIOC has not negotiated with CNPC yet,¡± he stressed.

Reuters on Tuesday reported industry officials as saying that top Chinese energy officials are holding discussions with NIOC to develop a giant gas field in the Persian Gulf.
 
"The CNPC is now measuring the size of the field ... It wants to become an operator," an Iranian industry executive said on the sidelines of an industry seminar in Beijing. A CNPC official said the negotiations were at early stage.

CNPC is one of the foreign companies interested to develop the Kish natural gas project, Reuters added.

Also, IOOC director for contracts earlier told MNA that IOOC would select the contractor for the project after bid closure. Iraj Pursharif added that NIOC had prioritized the development of Kish, but studies on the field should be completed prior to launching construction operations.

In-place reserve in Kish gas field is estimated at 43 trillion cubic feet of which 36 trillion can be extracted.

Also on Saturday, Zirakchianzadeh told Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) that the onshore operations and offshore pipe-laying at Abuzar oilfield have finished.

With the completion of the said operations, a majority part of upstream activities at Abuzar oilfield has finished, and its development project is nearing final stages, he added.

Mohammad-Hossein Bakhodaii, official in charge of Abuzar project with the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC) earlier this month said that the construction operations at Abuzar would finish by late November.

Located 85 kilometer off of Kharg Island in Persian Gulf, the oilfield is equipped with the installations to produce and process oil and sweet gas.
 
Source:Mehrnews