Addressing the first innovation event of the Iranian Oil Ministry, dubbed ‘Petroleum Takeoff’, on Monday morning, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said, "The first phase of nine contracts in the upstream sector, five exploration contracts, and 12 contracts for construction of downstream institutes with universities have been carried out and their second phase is about to commence."
Noting that "back in 1997, no Iranian university enrolled students in the upstream sector of the petroleum industry,," Zanganeh said, the ministry is now doing well in this field and is planning to engage more universities in solving petroleum industry’s problems and that the industry will support them in return.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Zanganeh said the central bank of Iran (CBI) is to bankroll Siraf refining project by investing Rls. 200,000 billion ( in the plan.
He said the project is currently underway and the central bank has agreed to fund it.
The oil minister further described compressed natural gas (CNG) as the national fuel for Iran, adding the fuel needed to be supported as such, even though energy intensity of the country would not be improved by replacing petrol with CNG; however, this could be a major economic success for the country.
The official further said that the issues concerning pollution of the fuels producers domestically needed to be addressed in the automotive industry.
MNA/SHANA