Iran extends offshore drilling contract with Turkmenistan

Managing-Director of the North Drilling Company (NDC) Hedayatollah Khademi announced that his company has extended its drilling contract with Turkmenistan for another 10 years.     "Iran has extended its contract with Turkmenistan for exploration and drilling of the Central Asian country's offshore oil platform in the Caspian Sea's shallow waters for another 10 years," Khademi said. He noted that the new contract for leasing Khazar Sea platform is valued at $159mln. "So far we have drilled 32 oil wells without any incident in shallow waters of Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea," Khademi said. Earlier this month, Khademi said that his company is the most profitable drilling firm in the Middle-East with a wide range of operations abroad. "The NDC is the most profitable drilling company in the Middle-East and the average profit gained by the company during the last 3 years amounted to 43%," Khademi told FNA. He said that different regional countries, including Iraq, Singapore, Kazakhstan and other Central Asian and Middle-Eastern states, have filed numerous orders at the company for implementing drilling projects in those countries.