Azerbaijan, Baku, May 11/ Trend F.Milad/
The National drilling Company (NDC) of Iran drilled 20 oil and gas wells during the first calendar month of Farvardin (ended on April 19), showing a 100 per cent rise compared to the same period last year, the NDC's managing director stated.
The drilling operations which were amounted to 39,914 metres in total, were carried out both on offshore and onshore fields, Heydar Bahmani added, the IRNA News Agency reported.
Currently 123 drilling rigs are in operation in Iran's offshore and onshore oilfields, an official with the National Iranian Oil Company said in March.
Abdolmohammad Delparish told Shana news agency that 98 rigs are in operation in onshore fields, 24 in offshore fields and a single rig is in operation in the Caspian Sea.
Iran plans to increase the number of its drilling rigs operating in its onshore and offshore oilfields by 36 units to reach 134 by March 2014, Ahmad Qalebani, the National Iranian Oil Company's managing director, said.