The agreements were signed on Thursday in the presence of President Masoud Pezeshkian and Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad.

A total of 20 drilling rigs will be added to Iran’s onshore fleet under purchasing guaranteed drilling services pact, while the capacity for quality improvement of crude oil is expected to grow using swift processing equipment under processing crude oil contract, SHANA reported.

As the first contract on purchasing guaranteed drilling services, following the NIOC’s several rounds of talks on evaluating the investment potential, the company signed the pact with six firms to supply 20 onshore drilling machines of 2,000 horse power.

Under the contract, valued at around $1 billion, a total of 270 wells will be drilled in five years that are expected to create jobs for 4,500 locals of the north oilfields area.

The second contract entails processing crude in oilfields and will increase extraction capacity at Mansouri (Bangestan), Abtimur, Ramshir, Mansourabad, Koranj and Golkhari fields.

By inking the contract, the NIOC will purchase over $1.7 billion in crude oil processing services in 10 years.

After the completion of public and private sector contracts, Iran’s daily crude oil processing capacity is scheduled to increase by 315,000 barrels.

Following the execution of the six contracts signed on Thursday and two other pacts inked previously with the private sector, a total of 430,000 barrels per day of oil will be processed by the Iranian private sector.

With the implementation of these projects, the country will earn $70 billion in 10 years, while more than 7,000 jobs will also be created.