A delegation from the National Iranian Drilling Company and Iraqi Drilling Company's officials explored grounds for increasing cooperation in oil and gas drilling activities.
According to NIDC's website, the two sides met in Basra on Saturday and called for increasing cooperation.
"NIDC is pursuing two major targets in the neighboring country, namely cooperation in oil and gas drilling projects and sharing expertise," NIDC Managing Director Sepehr Sepehri said, the National Iranian Oil Company's news portal reported.
The official noted that "if the grounds are prepared, NIDC will also devise training courses, including the international well control forums for Iraqi experts".
The NIDC chief expressed Iran's readiness to provide technical assistance under the new contracts dubbed 'EPDS' in which the engineering, procurement, drilling and surveying are seamlessly transferred to the drilling contractor.
During his visit, Sepehri met with Ali Aqa Jafar, managing director of Almajal, a subsidiary of Field Energy Services, weighing the possibility of future collaborations.
Almajal, Iraq's leading oil and gas service provider, agreed to provide a spectrum of logistic services, including mechanical repair and maintenance, as well as supplying NIDC's staff in Iraq with residential, transportation and security services.
NIDC, as a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, is responsible for drilling rigs operated by the National Iranian South Oil Company, Petroleum Engineering and Development Company, Iranian Offshore Oil Company, Iranian Central Oil Fields Company, Arvandan Oil and Gas Company and Pars Oil and Gas Company.
The drilling firm is making every effort to secure a foothold in the oil- and gas-rich Iraq to expand its activities there. It has participated in tenders held by the Italian giant oil company Eni for drilling projects in Iraq, the results of which have not been announced yet.
