TEHRAN – National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is going to ink 12 major research-based deals with five of the country’s universities in near future, Shana reported, quoting the NIOC head as saying.

Masoud Karbasian made the remarks in the signing ceremony of the South Azadegan oil field’s development project deal, which was signed between two domestic firms on Monday.

The official mentioned the positive results of Tehran University’s technical studies on Azadegan oil field and said: “With the signing of these new deals, it can be claimed that there is no major hydrocarbon field in the country, the development of which is not pursued in collaboration with prestigious universities and scientific centers.”

Referring to the NIOC’s previous technological study contracts for nine oil fields with eight universities and research centers, the official put the value of these contracts at about 29.2 trillion rials (about $695.2 million), plus 19 million Euros.

Back in August 2019, NIOC signed major agreements with universities and knowledge-based companies to research a variety of oil-related areas including geophysics, geochemistry, unconventional hydrocarbon resources as well as drilling.

Later in November that year, Saeid Mohammadzadeh, deputy oil minister for engineering, research, and technology affairs had said that the ministry signed 26 deals with the country’s universities to conduct research projects in various areas of the oil ministry.

Speaking on the sidelines of a signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Oil Ministry and Iranian Mining Engineering Organization (IMEO), Saeid Mohammadzadeh said five of the mentioned deals were in the field of exploration.

Since the re-imposition 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, and cooperation with knowledge centers has also been pursued as a major strategy.

EF/MA