Iran renews oil drilling activities in Caspian Sea after 30-year halt: minister

Iran started drilling for oil in the Caspian Sea on May 9 after a halt of such activities for nearly three decades, the Iranian government announced.

In an online ceremony, oil minister Mohsen Paknejad approved a drilling rig in shallow waters of Caspian block 18, located in the Roudsar formation 15-km off the northern Iranian coast.

"If this operation is successful, we can dub this hydrocarbon formation an oil field ... there is probably more than 600 million [barrels of] crude oil and around two trillion cubic feet of gas based on geological and seismic studies," Paknejad told reporters.

The $50 million drilling started from 70-meter in the sea and will dig down to a 5,077-meter depth for an appraisal job.

Paknejad said bespoke technologies would be needed for upstream production in the landlocked body of waters, and that Iran would welcome any company interested in joining a possible development project in the future.

Iran dug the last shallow-water well in 1997, and abandoned deep-water wells in 2014. The latter will resume after the semi-submersible rig, the Amirkabir, is repaired.

The Caspian is one of the oldest oil-producing areas in the world, with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan pumping oil from offshore fields.