A senior Iranian official has revealed that the country’s National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) has signed an MoU with Italian oil and gas major Eni for drilling and exploration projects.
‘To develop bilateral cooperation in drilling and exploration industries, we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Italian energy group Eni,’ Mohammad Reza Taaykadi, the Deputy Head of National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) said on Sunday, the official Mehr News Agency reported.
Taaykadi affirmed that Eni and its subsidiary contractor Saipem S.p.A., are negotiating with Iranian authorities and have signed MoUs so far.
“A reputed German company is also in talks to provide us with services of drilling, capital absorbing and exchange of technology,” Taaykadi said.
On the other hand, the official said that ‘there have been extensive talks between Iran and Iraq to run joint projects of drilling and exploring oil and gas in north and south areas of Iraq’, although current security concerns in Iraq are hampering progress.
Taaykadi said he hoped that the ‘continuous negotiations’ between the two neighbours would lead to finalising contracts with Iraq in the coming months.
He stated that Technology Transfer Contracts (TTC) are another area of Iran-Iraq oil cooperation.
He also added that some Turkish companies are seeking NIDC’s ‘expertise and are planning’ to borrow rigs from and hand out projects to Iranians.
