Mohsen Khojastehmehr made the announcement during a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between NIOC and the Presidential Department of Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy on Tuesday night.

According to the MoU, a strategic AI center will be set up to digitalize 15 oil and gas fields, said the NIOC CEO, adding a contract was also inked to acquire the technology for drilling long multilateral horizontal wells by using homegrown rotary steerable systems (RSS).

The 13th administration has close and constructive cooperation with the Presidential Department of Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy, he underlined, adding NIOC’s plan for 82 first-time production projects is at contract stage as the company has also started the necessary measures to manufacture strategic equipment such as RSS.

The digitalization of oil and gas fields will help reduce costs, boost output, and keep them under constant supervision, Khojastehmehr explained.

“We have to use AI for manufacturing the most advanced and state-of-the-art equipment,” he underscored, adding one of the neighboring states is managing 19 oil and gas fields digitally.

As Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has underlined, the NIOC chief continued, Iran needs to be among the top 10 AI users in the world.

Iran ranks first in the world in terms of oil and gas reserves on aggregate, said Khojastehmehr, adding the country is the holder of some 340 billion barrels of crude oil equivalent deposited in 410 reserves.

On Monday, NIOC signed four contracts with Iranian companies to drill 35 infill wells in the South Pars gas field, stated the CEO, the contracts of 35 others will be awarded to qualified domestic drilling companies in the near future.