Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 27
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
The National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) plans to operate 22 new rigs by the next five years.
Darioush Raeesi, a senior official with NIDC, said NIDC is currently operating 68 owned rigs and 5 rented rigs, Iran's IRNA news agency reported on Dec. 27.
Three rigs are operating at offshore fields and the rest are operating at onshore fields, he noted.
It had been planned that 14 drilling rigs to be built in cooperation with the Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research, but the plan was shelved, he said.
Heidar Bahmani, Managing Director of NIDC, said on Dec. 16 that although the country is capable of manufacturing drilling rigs, but unfortunately such equipment is imported.
Seven domestically-manufactured drilling rigs are currently operating in Iran's oilfields, he said.
This is why, Mohammad-Reza Takaidi, deputy managing director of NIDC, said in Sept. that one hundred percent of the drilling rigs which have been imported to Iran over the past 7-8 years were made in China.
He added that 120 drilling rigs are currently operating at the country's oil and gas fields.
NIDC owns 70 drilling rigs, he said, adding that the rest belong to the North Drilling Company, Naft Kav, Sepanta, MAPNA, GPTC, and Tadbir companies.
Based on OPEC data, 54 drilling rigs are currently operating in Iran.