Iran is considering pulling the lucrative Yadavaran oil field development from Chinese state energy giant Sinopec by year-end, once Phase-1 of the project is completed. Full operatorship would then be transferred to Petroleum Development and Engineering Company (PEDEC), a subsidiary of state giant NIOC, which today jointly operates the field with Sinopec.

This follows significant delays at the field – one of several key projects Iran hopes could help boost its domestic oil producing capacity over the coming years. Iran is targeting a highly ambitious 5.7mn b/d by 2017, up from 3.7-3.8mn b/d today (MEES, 18 April). (CONTINUED - 746 WORDS)