Petrobras, Repsol joint drilling in Persian Gulf

The National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC), in collaboration with foreign firms, has started the drilling of four exploratory wells in the Persian Gulf, an official with the NIDC said, MNA reported.

Hedayatollah Khademi told the Mehr News Agency that the NIDC has started the drilling operations at the Persian Gulf in cooperation with Brazil?s Petrobars and Spain?s Repsol.

The three companies are carrying out the operations according to an agreement they have previously signed, he added without going into details on value and the date of signing the contract.

Director at the NIDC for engineering continued that the NIDC currently has 50 rigs which are planned to increase within the next three years through adding 18 new rigs.

He noted that four of the 18 rigs will be used for workover operations and are to be purchased from China. He put the value of the four Chinese rigs at $60 mln.

NIDC is a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) which is in charge of onshore and offshore drilling operations at the country?s fields.

Petr? Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobars) is a government-owned Brazilian oil company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. Founded in 1953, it is a significant oil producer plus a major distributor of oil products. Petrobras is renowned for its leadership in development of advanced technology from deepwater and ultra-deep water oil products.

Also, Repsol YPF is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 29 countries. The bulk of its assets is located in Spain and Argentina.