TEHRAN – The number of knowledge-based companies active in Iran’s oil industry has increased from 150 in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20) to 550 in the current year, an official with the country’s Oil Ministry said.

Vahid Zeydifard, deputy oil minister for engineering, research, and technology, made the remarks on the sidelines of the first conference and exhibition of technology management of knowledge-based products in Iran's oil industry (Petrotech 2022), Shana reported.

Organized by the ministry on the occasion of the Research Week, Petrotech is aimed to provide the country’s knowledge-based companies with a platform to get familiar with each other and with the needs of the industry, the official said.

Earlier this month, the head of the Iranian Petroleum Industries Equipment Manufacturers Association (known as SIPIEM) said over 17 percent of the country’s knowledge-based companies are active in the oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors.

Speaking at another conference on the promotion of knowledge-based companies dubbed "Development of relations with knowledge-based and technological companies”, Ehsan Saqafi said the financial turnover of knowledge-based companies has increased 10 times over the past five years, from 350 trillion rials (about $988.7 million) to 3.5 quadrillion rials (about $9.88 billion) at the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year.

The current Iranian calendar year 1401 is named “Knowledge-Based Production and Job Creation” by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

In a meeting with some officials of the country in April, the Leader referred to the motto of this year and called the oil-free economy a long-term goal, saying that at least two governments in eight-year responsibilities must work to solve this problem (reliance on oil income).

In line with materializing the motto of the year, Oil Ministry and all of its subsidiaries have announced strong determination and prepared plans to this end.

Oil Minister Javad Oji has said, “We will increase oil production and reduce the import needs of the oil industry by relying on the power of knowledge-based production”.

“At the Ministry of Oil, we called in five areas so that we could use the potential of knowledge-based companies to increase production. Low-efficiency wells and optimization of fuel consumption in collecting gases, import needs of the ministry, and the chain of petrochemical complementary industries are among these areas”, the minister said in late April.

The managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the main subsidiary of the Oil Ministry, has also said that the main priority of the oil industry in the present year is increasing oil production relying on the knowledge-based approach.

“With the planning that has been done by using new technologies in the oil industry, we will strengthen the economic front in the oil industry more than before”, Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr has stressed.

Emphasizing that knowledge-based production will be at the forefront of the industry's plans, the official said: "Creating sustainable job opportunities while increasing production will definitely be a basic necessity and strategy that must be considered."

National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), the other major subsidiary of the Oil Ministry, also plays an important part in the materialization of the motto of the year.

As Majid Chegeni, the managing director of the company has said, the activity of the gas industry is directly related to the issues of production and employment; because almost all industries in the country are dependent on gas energy, so the role of the NIGC personnel is highlighted in this due.

National Petrochemical Company (NPC), another main subsidiary of the Oil Ministry, is completely familiar with the knowledge-based concept, and plays a significant management and development role in moving in the way of progress through a new and technological view, as stated by the managing director of the company.

In a meeting with the NPC directors and experts on materializing the slogan of the year, Morteza Shahmirzaei said the concept of knowledge-bases is familiar to the whole large family of petrochemical industry and the units have had very good activities in this field due to their area of responsibility.

“Many equipment and catalysts of the petrochemical industry are being fully domestically-produced relying on the internal technical know-how, and we should eliminate the need to import them due to the existing capacities in the country and relying on our domestic capability”, the official stressed.

EF/MA