Super-sized drilling rig installed at Iranian offshore oilfield

Iran has successfully installed a giant home-made drilling rig at a key oilfield in the Persian Gulf, despite being subject to a harsh regime of US and international sanctions that bars its access to foreign technology.

A Monday report from the Iranian Oil Ministry’s news service Shana said that the P4 platform, with an estimated weight of 6,200 metric tons, was installed at the Reshadat oilfield, located some 90 kilometers south of the island of Lavan in the Persian Gulf.

The report described the platform as the largest of its kind ever installed in oilfields in the Persian Gulf, saying the entire process of design, engineering, construction, and installation of the drilling rig was carried out by Iran’s state oil company and its subsidiary companies and technical staff.

The report said that the platform will increase production at the Reshadat oilfield by 35,000 barrels per day (bpd) and would allow the injection of 80,000 bpd of water to keep production at the field at current levels.

It said Iranian engineers installed the rig through a complex process known as “float over”, which required sophisticated planning and operational techniques.

Shana said the construction of the P4 platform had faced repeated delays over the past years, mainly because of US and international sanctions that restrict Iran’s ability to use foreign investment and technology.

The installation of the platform has come despite the fact that Iran was fighting a US-Israeli aggression between late February and early April, as installations in the country’s large petroleum industry came under aerial bombardment.

Iran has relied on domestic investment and expertise to develop its oil and gas fields since 2018, when the US imposed sweeping sanctions on the country’s energy sector.

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