BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend
National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) will use 37 drilling rigs in the territory of the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) to maintain and increase oil and gas production, Managing Director of the NIDC Abdollah Mousavi said, Trend reports citing National Iranian Oil Company’s (NIOC) website.
According to Mousavi, corresponding agreements have been reached between the NISOC and the NIDC , which aim at implementing relevant programs developed by the National Iranian Oil Company to meet the needs of the Iranian oil industry.
Mousavi added that at present, NIDC continues works on drilling and repairing wells in an area of 400,000 square kilometers.
The official said that over the past 40 years (since the revolution in Iran in 1979), the Iranian National Drilling Company has played a major role in drilling Iran's oil and gas wells with more than 70 drilling rigs.
Mousavi said that more than 4,600 oil and gas wells were drilled during the period.
National Iranian South Oil Company, which is subordinate of National Iranian Oil Company), has 45 large and small hydrocarbon deposits in an area of 400,000 square kilometers from Iran's Bushehr province to the north of Khuzestan province. The company produces about 80 percent of Iran's crude oil and 16 percent of gas. The company reportedly produces about 3 million barrels of oil per day.
About 280 new wells will be drilled as part of the plan to maintain and increase production in 28 fields under the control of NISOC. It is planned to implement the program to maintain and increase oil production at 28 fields within two years. With the completion of this plan, the company's production will increase by 341,000 barrels per day. About $4.6 billion is required for the implementation of this plan.
Iran has 125 oil fields and 59 gas fields. The country's total hydrocarbon reserves are estimated at 836 billion barrels. With available technology and equipment, Iran can extract 239 billion barrels. Thus, 29 percent of the country hydrocarbon reserves are recoverable, while 71 percent remain underground.