PGNiG, a Polish state-controlled oil and natural gas company, remains as a familiar name in Iran’s oil industry mainly for stalling and using delaying tactics in the course of talks with the NIOC.
During sanction years, the Polish firm stalled and played for time in the development of Lavan gas field and was ultimately removed from the project for continuous procrastination and dilatoriness.
Poland’s PGNiG held several negotiations with the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) between 2007 and 2011 and eventually, following years of temporizing, refused to cooperate with Iran under the pretext of sanctions.
Nonetheless, the National Iranian Oil Company sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Polish firm on Saturday to carry out study phase of Sumar Oil field.
Speaking during the MoU-signing ceremony, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Deputy Head for Development and Engineering Affairs Gholamreza Manouchehri pointed to earlier collaborations with the Polish firm saying “Tehran and Warsaw will once more launch cooperation in the upstream sector of oil and gas industry also commonly known as the exploration and production (E&P) sector.”
“The signing of a new agreement marks a new chapter in Iran-Poland ties in the energy sector,” highlighted the official saying “under the terms of the MoU, PGNiG will conduct studies over the Iranian oilfield for six months before offering a proposal based on which a developmental contract will be sealed.”
Manouchehri underlined that available data on Sumar Oil Field will be put at disposal of the Polish company and grounds will be provided for the foreign European party to make a visit to the sight.
PGNiG CEO Piotr Wozniak, while pointing to the age-old history of relations between Tehran and Warsaw, said “we have returned to Iran after a six-year hiatus and our efforts will hopefully yield fruitful results in Sumar oilfield given the company’s outstanding experience in Pakistan and Norway.”
Situated in Kermanshah province, Sumar Oil Field is located in the east of Naft-Shahr fields and northwest of Tang-e-bijar gas field.
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