Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, has officially launched the first phase of production at Yadavaran, North Yaran and North Azadegan fields in its oil-rich Khuzestan province, with a total output of more than 220,000b/d, reported Reuters.

Iran had awarded Yadavaran to China’s Sinopec through a contract worth $3b.  North Azadegan had been awarded to the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) and North Yaran to Iran’s Persia Oil and Gas Development Company through contracts worth $2.5b  and $600m, respectively, informed Press TV. North Azadegan is presently producing 85,000b/d. Production from Yadavaran and North Yaran stands at 115,000b/d and 30,000b/d. Accordingly, Iran’s production from oil fields on the western bank of the Karoun River, which include the above fields, has increased by above 250,000 bpd.

Rouhani stressed that Iran needs a total investment of at least $18b to develop all west Karoun fields. The biggest among all  are South Azadegan and Yadavaran which are shared with Iraq’s Majnoon and Sinbad fields. Furthermore, the officials have already emphasized that a long-term plan has been devised to increase production from the fields to above 1mb/d.