TEHRAN – Iranian Minister of Petroleum Javad Owji said on Monday that the capabilities of Iranian knowledge-based companies (KBCs) would be used to enhance production of 700 oil and gas well in the country.
Speaking at a ceremony commemorating the National Research Day, Owji said: “One of the ways to create jobs is using the power of the country’s elites, especially in low-income areas. Today, thank God, the oil industry is determined to use these elites.”
“About 50% of our exports are raw or semi-raw products, which is a great weakness for the country, so the use of knowledge-based companies in this field in addition to generating value added, can create employment and favorable hard currency for the country,” he went on to add.
He stated that the oil industry today needs knowledge-based companies and new technologies, adding: “More than 115 years have passed since the exploration of oil in Iran, but unfortunately today in many production areas in the upstream and downstream parts of the oil industry, methods are traditional.”
Referring to the existence of more than 5,500 oil and gas wells in 400 oil and gas fields of the country, he said: “Using the power of knowledge-based companies, we will undoubtedly be able to increase the annual production capacity of perhaps more than 80 million barrels of oil with the least capital and risk.”
‘30% of Iran Oil and Gas Resources Recoverable’

At the ceremony, the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr also stressed the need to absorb and transfer technology in the company, and said: “Underground capital is not our competitive advantage. It can be an advantage when we can recover it.”
Khojasteh Mehr said: “Today, there are a total of 1,200 billion barrels of crude oil equivalent of underground hydrocarbon resources located in 400 oil and gas reservoirs in Iran. The world has become more complex and the era of cheap oil production is over.”
Pointing out that in the current situation, less than 30% of the available resources can be extracted with the available technologies, the official said: “This has a meaning; if we want to turn existing resources into wealth, we must use science and technology.”
Khojasteh Mehr, stating that science and technology bring both wealth and power, said, “If we are after power, we must get help from science and technology.”
“Since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, we have sold more than one trillion dollars of oil. The main question is: “What is the share of technology?””
He added: “In the National Iranian Oil Company, according to the emphasis of the upstream documents, we want to have a significant share to generate wealth from underground reservoirs, and in this way we must use technologies maximally.”