The revival of abandoned oil and gas wells in Iran by tapping into cutting-edge knowledge of startups can help reduce production costs by 90%, the head of the Oil Industry Technology and Innovation Park said.
“The National Iranian Oil Company must spend at least $10 million on drilling each new well, whereas drawing on knowledge-based firms’ experience, the state-run company can revive each abandoned well at a cost of $1 million,” Mohammad Esmaeil Kefayati was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The Economic Council has allocated $700 million to be invested in projects to increase crude output level by 200,000 barrels per day from wells whose production have decreased, he added, hoping that startups can be linked to local oil and gas firms so they can help minimize the cost and risk of ventures like applying modern enhanced oil recovery and improved oil recovery techniques that are crucial for increasing production.
More than 500 knowledge-based firms are active in oil, gas and petrochemical sectors, and taking advantage of their prowess can help reduce costs in the key industry, he added.
Oilfield exploitation process can be divided into four stages, the last of which is characterized by a rather slow, gradual decline of oil production.
There are more than 5,500 oil and gas wells in 400 oil and gas fields of the country, some of which are under the late stage of development. This stage is associated with a number of challenges during the production and operation of reservoir fluids. The fluctuation in temperature and pressure and assessment of oil production rates are typical at this stage.
The official pointed out that drawing on the capabilities of knowledge-based companies, NIOC will be able to increase the annual production capacity to more than 80 million barrels of oil.
“The government is planning to offer tax and customs exemptions to high-tech firms, ease the cumbersome process of issuing commercial licenses, cut social security insurance costs, reduce the obligatory military service duration [for tech enthusiasts] and help empower innovative businesses,” he said.
About 50% of Iran’s exports are unprocessed or semi-processed products, which is not good for the country, so the use of knowledge-based companies in this field in addition to generating value added, can create employment and revenues for the country.
Iran is determined to increase the export of oil and other petroleum products, despite sanctions imposed by the United States on Tehran's crude sales.
