Azerbaijan, Baku, Jul.11/ Trend F.Milad/
Fifty oil and gas wells have been drilled in Iran since the beginning of the current calendar year (March 20), 10 more compared to the same period last year, the managing director of the National Drilling Company stated.
The Shana News Agency quoted Heidar Bahmani as saying on Tuesday that the wells have been drilled both at onshore and offshore fields.
The Iranian Oil Ministry will sign a deal today with a domestic consortium for building 14 onshore drilling rigs.
Iranian deputy oil minister has said the country is heading toward self-sufficiency in building onshore drilling rigs, adding that the oil ministry will soon sign a deal with domestic companies for manufacturing 12 new rigs.
Mohammad-Reza Moqaddam added that Iran has the potential to be an exporter of drilling rigs in 2015.
Two of the 12 drilling rigs will be built completely using Iranian expertise and parts, he noted.
On June 8, the Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) of Iran announced that it will offer a $40m package of incentives to domestic contractors for building drilling rigs in a bid to counter sanctions against the country's oil sector.
POGC managing director, Mousa Souri, told the Mehr News Agency that at present 11 drilling rigs and jack-up platforms are in operation in the South Pars gas field.
He added that eight new drilling rigs will be commissioned by the end of the current calendar year (March 2013).
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 units by March 2014, Ahmad Qalebani, the National Iranian Oil Company's managing director, said.