Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh met with a South Korean delegation headed by South Korean Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Yoo Il-ho on Sunday in his office in Tehran.
The issues discussed in the meeting were the investment of South Korean companies in projects such as extraction of crude oil, LNG exporting and petrochemicals, along with increasing Iran’s oil export to the East-Asian country.
Also Iranian side of the talks underlined that the two countries could have good cooperation in a number of areas in addition to oil industry.
Giving an account of the meeting, Zanganeh told the reporters that Iran was currently selling 100 thousand barrels of oil to South Korea which used to be 180 thousands prior to the pressure posed by the US for limiting Iran’s trade.
However, Iran’s Oil Minister noted the real decisions were to be taken after the official removal of sanctions.
He believed both private and state sectors in Iran and South Korea could cooperate in joint projects as the insurance sector of South Korea can provide finance for Iranian oil projects.
Saying that Iran is much more powerful now compared to the pre-sanctions years both in terms of infrastructures and the human resources capabilities, the minister said foreign companies had to bear this in mind when seeking contracts with Iran.
The big delegation includes officials from the state-run Korea Export-Import Bank and Korea Expressway Corp., as well as private builders such as Daelim Industrial Co., Daewoo Group and Hyundai Group.
South Korean companies are seeking to tap the Iranian market after the recent opening in the wake of Vienna agreement of July 14 between Iran and the 5+1.