TEHRAN - Head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Research and Technology Directorate has said that the company is seriously pursuing a program for using the capacities of domestic knowledge-based companies for meeting the oil industry’s technological needs.

“The National Iranian Oil Company intends to overcome some of its challenges regarding technological needs in various sectors including construction, services, and innovative solutions in cooperation with such companies and institutions,” Ebrahim Taleqani stated.

According to Taleqani, NIOC and its subsidiaries have selected 51 main challenges among more than 220 issues and various needs, which can be solved by using technological solutions and the scientific and technical capacities of knowledge-based companies.

Noting that the technological needs of construction and services have been prioritized based on their importance, he stated: “The selected challenges along with a brief description of them were sent to the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology in order to identify capable knowledge-based companies for each issue, and related companies in various sectors have been introduced by the mentioned body.”

According to the NIOC director of research and technology, cooperation between the oil industry and the country’s knowledge-based companies, in addition to help the purposeful growth of these companies and motivating them, will play an important and practical role in solving challenges and operational problems of NIOC subsidiaries and meeting the key needs of the oil industry’s upstream sector.

Back in 2019, Taleqani had announced that his office was going to conduct 25 major research projects worth nearly 700 billion rials (about $16 million) with knowledge-based companies.

Following a well-established plan, we will try to implement the projects in a parallel approach, he said.

The official mentioned NIOC Exploration Directorate’s agreements with Iranian universities and knowledge-based companies for research in various fields, saying that the Exploration Directorate is tasked to sign seven research agreements, four of which have been signed.

Taleqani also noted that other NIOC subsidiaries were also tasked to increase their research activities and in this regard, almost all of them are going to sign similar research agreements in the near future.

Since the reimposition 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.

According to Ali Vatani, an advisor to the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, currently, about 300 knowledge-based companies are active in the field of the oil industry in Iran.

EF/MA