Iraq’s Oil Ministry announced on Tuesday that it kicked off a project to drill 20 oil wells in the Nasiriyah oil field in the southern Dhi Qar province.
Director-General of the Iraqi Drilling Company (IDC) Bassem Abdul Karim said the project is part of the contract signed with the Dhi Qar Oil Company in cooperation with the US Weatherford Company to provide oil services.
He told a press conference that the drilling process was using modern drilling rigs, and that the planned depth of each well is 2,200 meters.
The IDC has provided four modern devices with specific capabilities to implement the project within 18 months.
Last week, Abdul Karim revealed that Iraq signed contracts with American, Chinese, Russian and Azeri companies to explore for gas and crude oil in territorial waters in southern Iraq.
Companies include US Halliburton Co, Schlumberger Ltd and Weatherford and China's Bohai Drilling Engineering Co.
Iraq is targeting the oil and gas fields in the submerged zone and the Faw sea coasts to produce gas and crude oil, Abdul Karim noted.
These agreements with global companies will support the Iraq’s plan to construct submersible or submerged drilling rigs in offshore drilling processes, as well as train the company’s employees in accordance with the latest technologies and expertise in the field of diversified drilling.