Iran launches first exploration robot in Caspian Sea

Iran’s North Drilling Company says the country launched its first exploration robot in the Caspian Sea’s Sardar-e Jangal gas field last year to take offshore drilling operations to a depth of 800-1,000 meters.

The company’s Managing Director, Hedayatollah Khademi, said on Monday that Iran has become the first country in the Middle East to activate an oil exploration robot at a depth of 800 meters.

He said the robot moves along the Caspian seabed and its main duty is opening and closing undersea valves that control oil gush.

The official added that moving equipment at a depth of 800-1,000 meters of the Caspian Sea is another job for the robot.

“Sending pictures to Amir Kabir [drilling] platform and reporting possible oil and gas leaks are also among the other duties of this oil robot,” he noted.

Khademi went on to say that the first exploration well at Sardar-e Jangal gas field has been drilled to a depth of 2,563 meters and has hit the gas reservoir on the Caspian seabed.

He added that drilling appraisal and developmental wells will be the next stages of the work on the field.

The official said Iran is the first member state of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the third Asian country, after China and India, with deep-water drilling technology.

According to officials of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Sardar-e Jangal oil field is completely situated within Iran’s territorial waters in the Caspian Sea and is not shared with any neighboring country.

Early studies show that in addition to natural gas and condensate, the field contains huge crude reserves.