TEHRAN – Head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Research and Technology Directorate said his office is going to conduct 25 major research projects worth nearly 700 billion rials (about $16 million).

Following a well-established plan, we will try to implement the projects in a parallel approach, during the current year and the next calendar year (March 2020-March 2021), Ebrahim Taleqani told Shana on Wednesday.

The official further mentioned NIOC Exploration Directorate’s agreements with Iranian universities and knowledge-based companies for research in various fields, saying that the Exploration Directorate is tasked to sign seven research agreements, four of which have been signed.

Earlier this month, NIOC Exploration Directorate signed four agreements with universities and knowledge-based companies to conduct research in a variety of oil-related areas including geophysics, geochemistry, unconventional hydrocarbon resources as well as drilling.

Taleqani also noted that other NIOC subsidiaries have also been tasked to increase their research activities and in this regard almost all of them are going to sign similar research agreements in near future.

Since the reimposition of the U.S. sanctions, Iran has been encouraging domestic companies’ presence in its oil and gas projects, in all sectors including research, exploration and development sectors. 

According to Ali Vatani, an advisor to vice president for science and technology, currently about 300 knowledge-based companies are active in the field of oil industry in Iran.

EF/