TEHRAN - National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) has signed agreements with the Sharif University of Technology and Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) for developing scientific and technological cooperation.

The MOU was signed by Sadeq Fathollahi, NISOC’s technical director, and the representatives of the mentioned institutions on the sidelines of the 25th edition of Iran International Oil, Gas, Refining, and Petrochemical Exhibition (Iran Oil Show) on Sunday evening.

Based on an agreement worth 1.33 trillion rials (about $31.6 million) RIPI is going to cooperate with NISOC to conduct research projects in three fields namely Ahvaz, Ragsefid, and Bibi Hakimeh.

According to Fathollahi, the mentioned agreement covers a variety of areas including upstream studies, surface facilities, optimization, technical inspections, and metal corrosion, as well as environmental and safety issues.

He also mentioned the agreement with Sharif University of Technology, saying: “20 fields of work are defined in this agreement for cooperation with Sharif University of Technology and with this agreement in place, in the next few days we will see the signing of its first contract.”

Further in the signing ceremony, the RIPI Head Jafar Tofiqi announced the readiness of his institute for any scientific and research cooperation with companies active in the field of oil and gas industry and said: "We have always been eager for the expansion of the relationship between industry and academic centers, which fortunately in recent years, this challenge has been met, and today we are witnessing a paradigm shift in both universities and senior oil executives.”

National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has been seriously pursuing programs for using the capacities of domestic knowledge centers for meeting the oil industry’s technological needs.

According to Ebrahim Taleqani, NIOC director of research and technology, cooperation between the oil industry and the country’s knowledge-based companies and research institutions is going to play an important and practical role in solving challenges and operational problems of NIOC subsidiaries and meeting the key needs of the oil industry.

EF/MA

Photo: RIPI Head Jafar Tofiqi (R) and NISOC Technical Director Sadeq Fathollahi (C) exchange signed agreement documents.