Iran, as the only country that runs a deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig in the Caspian Sea, displayed its abilities in the drilling industry at an exhibition in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Ehsanollah Qasemi, the North Drilling Company’s director for international marketing and cooperation, noted that such expos provide the company with opportunities to present its potential expertise to foreign markets.
“The company can cooperate with the Caspian Sea littoral states, such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, in drilling activities,” IRNA quoted him as saying on Friday.
The 25th International Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference was held from May 29 to June 1 in Azerbaijan, which gathered leading experts and leaders from the oil industry, namely SOCAR, BP, Total, Norway’s Statoil and Turkey’s Petkim, to demonstrate advanced technologies of oil and gas production, refining, transportation, logistics and services.
More than 310 companies from 38 countries attended the expo.
Pointing to the introduction of the company’s deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig in the exhibition, Qasemi noted that construction and installation stages of Amirkabir Rig have all been carried out by Iranian experts.
“Russia’s Gazprom is keen on utilizing Amirkabir Rig, about which we are planning to hold negotiations with the foreign company,” he said, adding that engineering services on implementing geological studies and supervising drilling operations have also been offered to Gazprom.
Qasemi stressed that North Drilling Company is also in talks with Kazakhstan on drilling some wells in the country.
"In addition to Iran-Khazar Rig, which is currently operational in Turkmenistan, Iran has been invited to undertake drilling in the country’s two other regions," he said.
“The North Drilling Company possesses the technology to carry out drilling in deep waters and has registered a regional record for drilling at Sardar-e Jangal oil and gas field at a depth of more than 700 meters,” the official said, stressing that the company is now ready to drill deeper wells.
Sardar-e Jangal Field contains an estimated 1.4 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in-place and some 500 million barrels of recoverable crude.
One of the oldest oil-producing areas in the world, the Caspian region is an increasingly important source of global energy production. It holds an estimated 48 trillion barrels of oil and more than 8 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in proven and recoverable reserves respectively.
Referring to the halt of Iranian activities in the Caspian Sea, Qasemi expressed optimism that the agreements reached between Iran and Azerbaijan during President Hassan Rouhani’s recent trip to the country, bilateral cooperation would begin in the shared Alborz Oilfield.
The Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research also attended the expo with the aim of marketing domestic high-tech drilling systems and equipment, as well as holding talks with potential buyers.
