Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 6
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
While in the US drilling one meter costs $68, it costs $3,000 to $3,500 in Iran to drill one meter of oil or gas well, says Mohammad Keshavars, CEO of Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company (MAPNA).
Speaking during an expert session on the sidelines of Iran's 2nd National Congress of Drilling Industry, he said that the high drilling cost in Iran is mostly due to long elapsed time periods during the drilling operations, SHANA news agency reported Mar. 6.
He also pointed out that since private companies lack the crippling regulations of governmental companies, they take less time for carrying out their drilling projects.
Keshavars went on to state that another problem afflicting Iran's drilling industry is its working capital.
"Due to sanctions, right now drilling companies have a hard time being funded. Nonetheless, it is not possible to fund through foreign sources," he said.
The official added that low job experience of staff and low quality of equipment are other factors that increase drilling costs in Iran.
The equipment is largely imported from China and is of low quality, he pointed out.
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) left Iran's oil projects as an ultimatum over its continuous delays expired last April.
CNPC has been in charge of developing the field for seven years. However, only seven out of the projected 185 wells of the first phase of the oilfield have been drilled so far, the managing director of Iran's Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC), Abdolreza Haji Hosseinnejad said in February 2014.
"CNPC was supposed to use 25 drilling rigs at the joint oilfield, but currently only five drilling rigs are active there," he added.
...
