BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 5. Iran is expected to start offshore oil and gas exploration activities during the current Iranian year (from March 21, 2025, through March 20, 2026), Mohyeddin Jafari, head of the Exploration Department at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), told reporters, Trend reports.
Jafari explained that over the past five years, exploration activities in the country’s seas had been halted due to a shortage of drilling rigs.
Jafari added that in the past year, NIOC, in cooperation with the Offshore Oil Company, organized a tender to secure a drilling rig for offshore exploration, and a contractor has been selected to provide the necessary rig.
The official noted that in the second half of the past Iranian year (from September 21, 2024, through March 20, 2025), the Exploration Department of NIOC divided its activities into two main areas: research and operational execution. The aim is to carefully analyze the developments in the discovery of oil and gas fields over the past 30 years.
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.
The aggregate hydrocarbon stockpile of Iran is quantified at 1.2 trillion barrels. Utilizing current technological frameworks and operational apparatus, Iran possesses the capacity to extract approximately 340 billion barrels of hydrocarbons. However, the nation is currently leveraging merely 30 percent of its total reserves, leaving a substantial 70 percent sequestered within subterranean formations, unexploited and dormant.
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