Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Amir Hossein Zamaninia expounded on details of new oil deals between Iran and Iraq saying “two joint MoUs were inked during a recent visit to Iraq of an Iranian delegation.”
“On Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) pertains to development of Parviz and Khorramshahr oil fields,” stated the official adding that the second agreement had been signed between private sectors of the two neighboring countries in other areas of oil industry like crude oil, equipment, gas exports and modernization of Iraqi refineries.
On the timetable for resumption of gas exports to Iraq, Zamaninia explained that both sides were ready for the process though Letters of Credit (LCs) first needed to be opened for exports to start over.
He noted that banking issues had to be fully resolved before Iranian gas could be deployed to Iraq stressing that “a letter of credit is a letter from a bank guaranteeing that a buyer's payment to a seller will be received on time and for the correct amount.”
Deputy oil minister however reassured that the required LC for exports of Iranian gas to the neighboring country would be soon opened in time with the visit of an Iraqi delegation to Tehran; “Deputy Oil Minister of Iraq for Gas Affairs Hamid Younis Salih recently announced that his government has allocated the desired amount for the project.”
Amirhossein Zamaninia went on to say that another axis of the second MoU with Iraq was construction of Basra-Abadan crude oil pipeline concluding “in the visit to Iraq representatives of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), National Iranian Oil Pipeline and Telecommunication Company were present.
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