TEHRAN – “Iran has attained self-sufficiency in the drilling industry and is capable of carrying out drilling operations all around the world,” National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) managing director said here on Wednesday.

Heidar Bahmani told Mehr News Agency, “In the previous (Iranian calendar) year (March 20, 2007- March 19, 2008) the NIDC hit the record of drilling down to 346,000 meters depth which was unprecedented in the last 30 years.”
“In the same period NIDC drilled 155 wells while the foreign companies drilled only 2,” he explained.
“The amount of investment in Iran’s drilling industry in the previous (Iranian calendar) year was about $350 million,” Bahmani added.
He went on to note that currently 56 drilling rigs are in operation in Iran of which 6 rigs are rented and the rest belong to NIDC.
NIDC’s managing director also emphasized that Iran will need another 30 drilling rigs in the coming 10 years