国际英语新闻：Iran starts drilling oil well in Caspian Sea

TEHRAN, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran started drilling its first exploratory well in the Caspian Sea to search for oil in its waters, the state IRIB TV reported Sunday.

"The Iran-Alborz semi-floating drilling rig has started exploration drillings in the Caspian Sea," Iran's North Drilling Company Managing Director Hedayatollah Khademi said, adding "it will drill the country's first exploratory well at a depth of 1, 550 meters under the seabed."

In light of the great potential of the region, there is a very good possibility that the Iran-Alborz semi-floating drilling rig will help find new reserves of crude oil in the Caspian Sea, Khademi was quoted as saying.

Earlier in July, Iran announced the country would launch exploration of oil and gas using its domestically-built semi- floating drilling rig in the Caspian Sea.

Iran-Alborz weighs 14,000 tons and is the largest in the Middle East, Iran's Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said in July.

The Caspian Sea, with a surface area of 371,000 square km and a volume of 78,200 cubic km, is in central Asia bordered by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.

Among the five nations, only Iran is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).