Attending the opening ceremony of Oil and Energy Conference in Tehran on Monday morning, Bijan Zanganeh stressed that the existing issues at international level have been resolved by the efforts of the government and Iran has entered a new political and international phase; “EU and US nuclear sanctions against Iran have been canceled according to JCPOA and it is expected to take up to two months before the lifting of sanctions will become fully operational.”
Oil minister deemed transfer of knowledge and technologies as the first step for development of cooperation with credible foreign companies; “the priorities of the Iranian oil industry include expansion of financial resources as well as creation of new markets for export,” he asserted.
Reminding that Iran plans to regain its lost markets in the shortest possible time, the member of the cabinet added “accordingly, several talks with old costumers of Iran’s oil and gas have been made and they have expressed readiness to sign new oil contracts with Iran.”
Pointing that new contracts and opportunities for investment in Iran’s oil industry will be officially introduced at a conference in Tehran next month, the official stated that “the main priority in the transfer of knowledge and technology would be upgrading and increasing the recovery factor in the country’s hydrocarbon reservoirs.”
Zanganeh also recalled that Iran is the only country in the Middle East with unlimited supply of natural gas and said high production capacity and rich gas supply have provided numerous investment opportunities in various units like NGL, refineries and petrochemicals.
“Iran seeks to export gas through pipe drilling and implementation of NLG and mini NLG projects for the post-sanction era,” said Zanganeh and added, “there exists a great investment opportunity in energy-saving projects in various fields of oil, gas and energy.”
The oil minister stated that even at the time of fall in oil prices, a total of 40 to 50 million dollars of energy-saving opportunities exist in the country; “Iran welcomes joint ventures with international companies as well as establishment of foreign companies’ branches in Iran’s oil and gas industry.”
Zanagneh, stressing that during the post-sanction period all oil trading activities will be more transparent than in the past, asked foreign companies not to work with dealers and to refrain from paying kickbacks for implementing projects in Iran.
The minister further said during the post-sanctions era local private sector companies as well as foreign companies will enjoy a facilitated access to Iran’s oil officials; “some speculators took advantage of the sanction years adding to their fraud expertise but we promise to intensify fight against corruption in the oil industry.”
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