The ministry of science, research and technology has signed an agreement with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) aimed at providing universities and research institutes with scientific data from certain oilfields, IRNA reported.
Based on the agreement, all the technological information regarding enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and increased oil extraction from oilfields will exclusively be released to universities and research institutes over a 10-year period. It is NIOC's first such agreement with universities and research institutes.
Deputy minister of science, research, and technology, Vahid Ahmadi, highlighted that enforcing the provisions of the agreement is a difficult task and each party must try its best to see the project through.
The ministry official mentioned that the MoU is not only aimed at conducting related research projects, but it also means that scientific development will be the best way for meeting the industry's needs, and that oil industry can provide the required facilities for scientific progress.
A look at the factors leading to the progress of major oil-producing nations indicates that ground-breaking techniques are employed in the upstream sector of oil industry (including crude oil exploration, drilling and operating of wells) rather than the downstream sector (including refining of crude oil, and marketing and distribution of oil derivatives). In other words, these countries make investment in EOR and technology optimization to increase the amount of crude oil that can be extracted from an oil field.
"By signing the MoU and making the oilfield data available to universities for scientific research Iran has taken the first step in that direction," Ahmadi remarked.
The MoU prepares the ground for knowledge-based companies and universities to get involved in collaborations with renowned foreign research institutes, which conduct similar oil industry studies, and use their knowledge and experience in the field.
According to Mohammad Ali Emadi, the director of research and technology center at NIOC, nine universities and research institutes, and 20 oilfields have been selected for this project.
Research projects for Ahwaz, Karaj, Kopal, Gachsaran, Mansouri, and Bibi Hakimeh oilfields were, respectively, handed over to the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, Islamic Azad University, Sharif University of Technology, Petroleum University of Technology, Shiraz University, and EOR research institute.
