This directorate was established in the year 2000 following the approval by the Council of Deputies of the Petroleum Ministry. The directorate was founded to conduct research activities related to upstream oil industry. Planning and compiling strategies for research and technology in NIOC, institutionalizing and developing research activities, creating areas of growth, creativity and innovation in the oil industry, preparing programs of study, guiding and supervising upstream projects and utilizing capabilities at universities, research centers, technology companies and scientific institutions have been among research missions of this directorate.

Based on the Petroleum Ministry’s new comprehensive strategic plan system for research, technology and innovation, the tasks determined for this directorate within NIOC are briefly as follows:

1-    Planning and coordination, including preparing road map for research and technology, reviewing and approving action plans for research and technology projects, estimating human and financial resources required and the manner of allocating resources for research and technology and …

2-    Development of science and technology including creation, development and localization of key technologies, transfer of technical knowledge in development projects and …

3-    Supporting commercialization, entrepreneurship, marketing and market - making including planning and utilization of market-making mechanisms, conversion of policies and preparing action plans for the formation of institutions and organizations related to technology commercialization of the mother company and …

4-    Designing the necessary mechanisms to provide and mobilize human, financial and infrastructural needs and …

5-    Preparing ground, planning and designing the necessary mechanisms to create scientific and technology networks and ….

In order to achieve the above-mentioned tasks, research activities occur in the following fields:

1-    Reservoir engineering

2-    Enhanced recovery for oil and gas reservoirs

3-    Production and exploitation techniques

4-    Reservoir management

5-    Geology

6-    Drilling

7-    Software development

8-    HSE

9-    Management, productivity, human resource development and ICT

10- Energy consumption optimization

11- Offshore oil and gas activities

12- Qualitative and quantitative measurement systems

13- Corrosion and metallurgy

14- Crude oil storage, transfer and distribution systems

15- New technologies

16- Technologies related to LNG

17- Gas – Gas & condensate

18- Improving quality of heavy and extra – heavy oil

19- Sulfur

20- Energy economics

This directorate makes endeavors to convert NIOC from an operation – based company to a technology – based company in order to achieve the following technologies in the National Iranian Oil Co and its subsidiary companies during the Fifth Development Plan.

These technologies include:

1-    Improved oil recovery

2-    Modeling, control and hydrocarbon reservoir management

3-    Production and exploitation

4-    Geology

5-    Drilling operations

6-    Integrated data bank

7-    Environment

8-    Energy consumption optimization

9-    Construction of equipment and materials

10- Productivity and effectiveness