Iran begins drilling oil well in Caspian Sea

[February 15, 2010]  TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- State TV reports that Iran has began drilling its first exploratory oil well in the Caspian Sea.

The Sunday report quotes head of Iran's North Drilling Company Hedayatollah Khademi as saying the well is one of the three planned to gauge the amount of recoverable oil available in Iran's territorial waters of the sea.

Khademi said the drilling began last week and is taking place at 1,550 meters under the seabed.

The move is the latest Iranian push to take a bigger stake of the natural resources of the sea, which is shared by Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.

In 2009 Iran inaugurated its first offshore oil platform in the Caspian.

[Associated Press]

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