North Drilling Company is an Iranian company specialized in the contracting, design, construction, management and leasing of oil and gas platforms

Oil platform

An oil platform, also referred to as an offshore platform or, somewhat incorrectly, oil rig, is a lаrge structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing...

 in the Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...

, to global customers. The company was privatized in June 2009. As of February 2010, Mehr Eghtesad, a quasi-government investment company

Investment company

An investment company is a company whose main business is holding securities of other companies purely for investment purposes. The investment company invests money on behalf of its shareholders who in turn share in the profits and losses....

, owned 20% of its shares on the Tehran Stock Exchange

Tehran Stock Exchange

The Tehran Stock Exchange is Iran's largest stock exchange, which first opened in 1967. The TSE is based in Tehran. As of July 2010, 337 companies with a market capitalization of US$72 billion were listed on TSE...

.

In 2009 SADRA

SADRA

SADRA also known as "Iran Marine Industrial Company" was founded in 1968 as a small ship repair yard in Bushehr. Since then, SADRA has established itself as the leading shipbuilding and shiprepairing company in Iran. SADRA is also active in offshore oil & gas development. SADRA specializes in...

 launched a domestically-built semi-floatable drilling rig for the Caspian Sea. The semi-submersible rig called 'Iran-Alborz' is the largest in the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. The semi-floatable platform is able to operate at water depths up to 1,030 metres and can drill down to 6,000 metres under the seabed. Iran-Alborz is operated by Iran North Drilling Co.

North Drilling Company and China Petroleum Technology Development Corporation (CPTDC) have signed a $143 million contract to set up a drilling rig in the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

by 2011.