TEHRAN - National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) dug and completed the digging operations of 36 oil and gas wells during the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-July 22), an official with the company said.

According to Masoud Afshar, the deputy head of NIDC for drilling operations, one of the drilled wells was development and the rest were workover ones, Shana reported.

The official stated that during the mentioned time span NIDC managed to dig eight wells more than the figure for the previous year’s same period.

As reported, 30 of the drilled wells were in the operational zone of the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), one well was drilled in the fields under the supervision of the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), two were in the fields under the operation of Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC), and three wells were dug in fields developed by private contractors.

Since the beginning of this year, the drilling area of the wells has reached 26,946 meters, he said.

NIDC owns 70 light, heavy, and super-heavy drilling rigs, including 67 onshore drilling rigs and three offshore rigs, of which 62 were active in the first 11 months of the current year.

Earlier this month, NIDC Managing Director Hamidreza Golpayegani said that his company dug and completed the digging operations of 27 oil and gas wells during the first 100 days of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-June 30).

According to, the drilled wells consisted of two development, and 25 workover ones.

Golpayegani had earlier declared the company’s infrastructure improvement in line with the programs of the Oil Ministry as the most important achievement of NIDC in the past year.

Speaking at the company’s annual board meeting, the official said NIDC’s performance in various operational, technical, engineering, support, services, and headquarters departments has been significant and improved in the previous year compared to the preceding two years.

“According to the statistics of our planning department, the productivity index [of the company] reached 62 percent past year, while this figure was 48 percent in 1400,” he noted.

NIDC managed to dig and complete 99 oil and gas wells in the past Iranian calendar year 1401 (ended on March 21).

According to Afshar, the drilled wells consisted of 15 development, five exploratory, and 79 workover ones.

He said that 77 of the mentioned wells were drilled in the operational zone of the NISOC, eight wells were drilled in the fields under the supervision of the IOOC, eight in the fields under the operation of the PEDEC, two wells in the framework of project, and four in the operational zone of the drilling management department of National Iranian Oil company (NIOC).

Over 67,000 meters of drilling were conducted for drilling the mentioned wells, the official announced, and noted, “Comprehensive planning has been done to speed up the drilling operations and it is expected that with the reconstruction and modernization of the drilling machines and equipment, in the current year we will see the use of more drilling machines of the company in the oil-rich areas of the country.”

Considering the National Iranian Oil Company’s strategies for strengthening the presence of domestic companies in the development of the country’s oil fields, NIDC, as a major subsidiary of the company, has been supporting such companies by lending them drilling rigs and other necessary equipment.