BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 24. The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) pays special attention to the exploration of oil fields in its border regions with neighboring countries, said Mohyeddin Jafari, Head of Exploration Department at the NIOC, Trend reports.
Speaking at the third PetroTech Conference in Tehran, Jafari noted that the NIOC is working on increasing the focus and speed of exploration operations by leveraging the potential of artificial intelligence in exploration.
The official further noted that the chance of discovering large oil or gas fields, such as Azadegan, in Iran is currently very low, with a probability rate of about 7 percent.
The company representative mentioned that, for many years, oil exploration in Iran was conducted at shallow depths. However, now deeper drilling is necessary, and for this, Iran requires technology that can enhance speed and precision.
“Currently, the country's drilling sector is in urgent need of modern technology. For example, in 1970, drilling in one of Iran’s oil fields took 152 days. Approximately 40 years later, this duration increased to 400 days. Another example is in 1969, when drilling at a depth of 5.8 kilometers took 260 days. However, after 260 days today, we have only reached a depth of 5.6 kilometers, and drilling tests have not yet been conducted,” he added.
The third Petrotech Conference, which opened today and will run for two days in Tehran, is expected to witness the signing of six contracts for the production of key equipment for the oil sector and the presentation of nine new products.
Currently, Iran has 74 active oil fields and 22 gas fields. There are 37 oil fields operating under the Southern Oil Zones National Company of Iran, 14 under the Central Oil Zones Company of Iran, 5 under the Arvandan Oil and Gas Production Company, and 18 under the Offshore Oil Company. Additionally, there are 5 gas fields operating under the Southern Oil Zones National Company of Iran, 13 under the Central Oil Zones Company, 1 under the Pars Oil and Gas Company, and 3 under the Offshore Oil Company.
Iran's total hydrocarbon reserves amount to 1.2 trillion barrels. With existing technology and equipment, Iran can extract 340 billion barrels, but it is only utilizing about 30 percent of its reserves, with 70 percent remaining untapped underground.
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