TEHRAN- National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) dug and completed the digging operation of 72 oil and gas wells during the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-October 21).

Some 41,793 meters of digging has been conducted for the mentioned wells, which consisted of 22 development/appraisal wells, 48 workover wells, and two exploration wells.

Digging operations during the mentioned period of time have been completed sooner than the schedule as the result of effective cooperation between the NIDC and the contractors of the projects.

As Saeed Akbari, the acting director of NIDC’s digging operation department, has announced, the digging operations of 13 wells have been completed some 233 days sooner than the planned time, which has a high economic value.

Of the mentioned 72 wells, 56 are located in the area under the operation of National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), seven in the area under the operation of Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), five in the Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC)’s under operation zones, and one in the region under the operation of Iranian Central Oil Fields Company (ICOFC).

Holding 70 onshore and offshore drilling rigs as well as equipment and facilities for offering integrated technical and engineering services, the National Iranian Drilling Company accounts for a major part of drilling exploration as well as appraisal/development wells in Iran.

As previously announced, the company has dug over 240 oil and gas wells across the country in the past two years.

While the development of Iran’s oil and gas industry has never been halted by the U.S. sanctions, and also not hindered by the coronavirus pandemic, the industry has been even experiencing major progress and development in different sectors.

One of the major areas with proper development has been the digging industry.

Not only the digging operations of oil and gas wells have been conducted as expected, this sector has also managed to indigenize the know-how to manufacture some major parts and equipment.

Back in May, an official with the National Iranian Drilling Company said that the company has indigenized the knowledge for manufacturing 6,000 drilling equipment in collaboration with domestic manufacturers and engineers in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19).

According to Behnoud Mansournejad, the head of NIDC's Technology and Engineering Department, before this success, the technology for manufacturing the mentioned equipment was in the possession of a handful of foreign companies.

Mansournejad said that the use of the domestically-made parts and equipment saved the country 45 billion rials (about $107 million) in the previous year.