The National Iranian Drilling Company in collaboration with domestic manufactures indigenized 242 more equipment and parts, the director of research, technology and engineering department at NIDC said.
“The equipment includes mud weight sensors, vibrating sieves, valve plates, cement heads, oil cooling batteries, core catchers, compressors and electric boxes,” Mehr News Agency quoted Mehdi Arshian as saying.
Six R&D contracts have been signed between the NIDC, universities and knowledge-based companies, including Shahid Beheshti University, Sharif University, and the Petroleum University of Technology to move the indigenization agenda forward, he added.
NIDC’s goal is to empower domestic industries and boost the quality of equipment manufactured inside the country.
Arshian underscored NIDC plans to utilize domestic potential in producing parts “to improve quality and help the industry become more self-reliant.
NIDC, a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Company, has undertaken drilling work in Yaran, Yadavaran and Darkhoin oil fields in Khuzestan, and the Azar oil field in Ilam Province.
It owns 72 offshore and onshore drilling rigs and draws on the capacity and potential of domestic companies in producing parts and equipment for the key oil and gas sector.
Major Contractor
The company hold 65% of the domestic drilling market share and contracts most of the drilling work in the country. It has drilled 4,500 onshore and offshore oil and gas wells in four decades.
After the US imposed new economic sanctions in 2018 that resulted in steep increases in currency rates, the Oil Ministry encountered big problems in importing equipment. Given the scope of its activities and volume of imports, the last resort for the oil and gas industry was to boost domestic manufactures.
Most of the machinery and equipment for the industry is manufactured by local private companies in collaboration with knowledge-based firms and state organizations.
NIDC's research, technology and engineering department indigenized 5,000 pieces of equipment in the past two decades, most of which are used in offshore and onshore rigs. The parts account for almost 80% of its needs.
Indigenized equipment includes blowout preventers, traction motors, draw-works, drilling fluid recycling systems, mission centrifugal pumps, top drives, and drilling rig slow circulation rate pressure systems.
