TEHRAN - Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh unveiled a domestically-built drilling rig in a ceremony held in Khuzestan province, southwestern Iran on Tuesday.

The drilling rig, called Fat’h-72 has been completely designed and constructed by experts from the province’s Academic Center for Education, Culture, and Research (ACECR) in Ahvaz, the capital city of Khuzestan, Shana reported.

The unveiling ceremony was attended by senior officials including Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Masoud Karbasian, and Chief of the Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research Hamid-Reza Tayebi, as well as the Managing Director of National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) Seyed Abdollah Mousavi.

As the sixth domestically–made drilling rig, Fat’h-72 is going to be installed and used in one of the new fields discovered in the region.

ACECR has signed a €33-million deal with the National Iranian Oil Company for construction of three drilling rigs, one of which is Fat’h-72.

The rig’s maximum drilling depth is reported to be 20,000 feet, and the structure is able to tolerate a maximum static load of one million pounds. 

Fat’h-72 is also equipped with a 500-ton top drive which is used to rotate the drill string during the drilling process, a 137.5-inch rotary table and three reciprocating mud pumps each with a power up to 1600 horsepowers (hp).

EF/MA