"With the help of 3 offshore and 69 onshore rigs, NIDC, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, has drilled 132,000 meters of oil and gas wells nationwide," Mohammad Ale-Khamis was quoted as saying by IRNA on Friday.
Of the total, 37 were development and exploratory wells and 59 underwent repairs, according to Financial Tribune.
"The wells were drilled in oilfields managed by the National Iranian South Oil Company, the Iranian Offshore Oil Company and the Petroleum Engineering and Development Company in the West Karoun oil block that includes several large oilfields straddling the Iran-Iraq border, namely Yaran, Yadavaran and Darkhoein," he said.
NIDC is involved in almost 70% of Iran's onshore drilling and has 72 drilling rigs 68 of which are used in joint oilfields, namely Azar in Ilam Province as well as South Pars, the world's largest gas field shared by Iran and Qatar in the Persian Gulf.
Land Burner
According to Jahangir Shojaei, NIDC technical services director, the company has designed and manufactured the first indigenized well test burner dubbed "Land Burner" to help address the environmentally-unfriendly fallout from crude oil disposal during traditional well testing operations.
Two types of the equipment have been produced, with successful tests in two major oilfields, namely South Azadegan and Sarvestan.
Well testing during exploration and appraisal includes the production of hydrocarbons with a temporary production facility to obtain fluid samples.
Burners are used to prevent the pollution of land or marine surface through the release of explored liquids during testing.
According to Shojaei, the oil industry is committed to environmentally-friendly exploration and appraisal, and with the improved burner technology the fallout of unburned hydrocarbons and dense smoke can be significantly reduced or eliminated during well testing operations.
The device (land burner) is aimed at removing residue from inefficient flaring that has an adverse impact on the environment.