Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 9
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The National Iranian Drilling Company has inked deal with Iraqi private oil companies for conducting drilling operations in Iraq.
Heidar Bahmani, managing director of the National Iranian Drilling Company, said that the company aims to conduct drilling operation in Iraq's southern fields, especially in Basra, Iran's Shana news agency reported March 9.
He did not provide any details about the date and the place of signing the deal.
Iranian drilling companies have the potential to hold a one third share of drilling operations in the Middle East he noted.
Roknoddin Javadi, managing director of National Iranian Oil Company, said on March 3 that the country's oil production capacity is currently about 4 million barrels per day, but the real production is much lower due to the international sanctions.
He added that around 150 offshore and onshore drilling rigs are operating in the country. Some $4 billion is spent annually on drilling oil and gas wells in Iran, he noted.
Currently, 50 percent of oil and gas wells in Iran are drilled by the private sector, he said, adding that before the 1979 Islamic revolution foreign companies drilled 100 percent of the wells.
Edited by CN