Dr. Jafar Tofiqi

After one century from the development of oil industry in Iran followed by the nationalization of this industry, the expectations for development of the technology related to it and the necessity for having a national look at this industry is felt more than other industries of the country.
Oil in Iran has been turned into a historical and ultra-industrial identity and this necessitates the country to reach complete self-sufficiency in this industry. Self-sufficiency in the oil and gas industry means self-sufficiency in the history of industry; it will be regretting if we have challenge and problem in the oil discovery and extraction technology after a century of oil spout in Masjed Soleiman wells.

The headquarters for the development of technology and innovation  in oil, gas and coal industry was formed in February 2014 under the supervision of the scientific and technological department of presidential office so that it can use the views of all managers, experts and elites in addition of relations with the top managers of the oil ministry to help the enhancement of technology of this industry. The headquarters seeks to use all potentials of Iran in the technological and innovation field beside the efforts of oil industrialists to ascend Iran to the first scientific and technological position in the region in 2025 which will not be materialized but by national resolution and jihadi management. To achieve this important issue, the headquarters has specified the fundamental ideologies and definition of the main goal and an inspiring slogan.

The strategy-ideology of the headquarters for the development of technology and innovation in oil, gas and coal industry of the scientific and technological department of presidential office includes a balanced, strategic, facilitating and developmental view in the field of technology. The added value should increase and the competing power should be enhanced in the field of oil products and to this end, using the capacities and capabilities of the knowledge-based companies of the private sector, research and development of technology centers, universities and the creditable internal and foreign research centers and science and technology parks and paying attention to the balanced development and continued improvement of the needed technologies in oil, gas and coal industry is needed.

But the final and united goal that we are after it by definition of these ideologies is the development of oil, gas and coal industry’s development and innovation so that we can become the best supporter of the development and enhancement of value-creating technologies in the oil, gas and coal industry in 2025 and actually this will be the subject of the headquarters’ inspiring slogan.

Always, specification of macro plans and inspiring slogans in a hard and long path can be hope for the continued efforts and patience of those who pave the path; beside specifying such aspirations, it is necessary that the missions of the headquarters will also be specified and we can divide these missions to the four fields of services, the key beneficiaries, geographical dimensions and the main capabilities. In the field of services, we can refer to the policy-making, facilitating, regulating, developmental researches and supporting the implementation of the indigenized technologies.

This hard and long way can become easy and near with the existence of partners; simply-speaking, in a bid to render services it is necessary that the beneficiaries and those related with the headquarters will be specified; they include the policy-makers, planners and managers of the oil, gas and coal industry, those active in implementing projects related to the oil, gas and coal industry (employers, construction contractors, engineering advisors, builders and beneficiaries,…), the research and development centers and knowledge-based companies active in the development of oil, gas and coal industry, science and technology parks, science-research towns, universities and research centers across the country and other headquarters of the scientific and technological department of presidential office. In the geographical field, the national, regional and international arenas in the oil, gas and coal industries are a matter of concern.

The organizational and bureaucratic work needs paying attention to the values beside having specialty, actually in a bid to define value in an organization chart the need for practicing the principle values is felt more than any other thing; the values like flexibility, agility, using the top experts, taking responsibility, presenting best quality in services and commitment to the professional morality, believing the efficiency of collective work and respecting the Iranian and Islamic values. If all of these cases are not practiced, we have merely produced theories and no results will be yielded. But if we respect the materialization of these valuable definitions, we become near to the macro goals of development of oil, gas and coal industry’s technology and innovation. The macro goals which are divided in two groups; strengthening the national might and accelerating the economic growth through empowering the technology and innovation in oil, gas and coal industry and strengthening the competing position of oil industry on the regional and international scene through strengthening and commercialization of indigenized technologies.

Now with the planning and specification of a roadmap of the trip and providing equipment for the trip, we can start our journey, the path which is focused on removing the challenges of development of technology in Iran’s oil industry. But we should understand these challenges. The lack of short-term and long-term plans for the enhancement of the level of technology in oil ministry given the existing potential capabilities can be considered as one of the challenges of this path and after that we can refer to issues like non-accordance of strategies of oil industry’s business with the strategies of technology development, lack of integrated and preplanned framework for the management of the process for transferring technology in the oil industry projects and ruling the view of production-seeking in oil industry and the lack of feeling the need for Iran’s oil industry to confront the scenarios of decreased production and understanding that technology is the most important instrument for confronting the decreased added value.

It is a long time that we have neglected numerous issues in oil, gas and coal industry and this has created a challenge in this industry; issues like neglecting the importance of innovation in oil industry’s upstream section, lack of sufficient infrastructures for management of knowledge and technology in oil industry, lack of ground for attracting new technologies, including the organizational structure and a responsible and responding official, lack of integrated relations among the environments for producing knowledge and technology and oil operational and industrial centers, weakness of legal infrastructures in Iran’s oil industry and numerous other challenges that cannot all be mentioned here.

By understanding these obstacles and problems we can pay more attention to prioritization and focus in this field and the headquarters for development of technology and innovation in oil, gas and coal industry has made efforts to remove these obstacles by focusing on them.

* The Secretary of headquarters for development of technology and innovation in oil, gas and coal industry of the scientific and technological department of presidential office