National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) is stepping up its exploration program in an attempt to find another 2.5 billion bbl of oil and 40 tcf of gas during the next 5 years.
Exploration took second place to maintaining productive capacity during the Iran-Iraq war and its aftermath. As a result, few wells were drilled in the 1980s.
NIOC plans to boost its current fleet of two onshore and two offshore rigs to a total of 12 rigs for exploratory drilling.
The current count of seismic crews--two operated by NIOC and two by foreign contractors--will increase to seven crews. About 15,000 km has been shot during the past 2 years.
A survey in the Persian Gulf has identified seven areas with possible commercial leads.
Total cost of the revitalized exploration program will be $1.4-1.5 billion.
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