A senior Iranian energy official voiced support on Monday for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's choice of new oil minister, two days before parliament is due to vote on the proposed cabinet line-up, Reuters reported.
In a surprise move, Ahmadinejad earlier this month nominated current Commerce Minister Massoud Mirkazemi as new oil minister to replace Gholamhossein Nozari in his next government following June's disputed presidential election.
Mirkazemi, an industrial engineer, has little known oil industry experience but is seen as an Ahmadinejad ally. The Oil Ministry portfolio is a key post as crude sales account for most of Iran's state revenue.
Parliament must approve Ahmadinejad's 21-member cabinet in voting scheduled for Wednesday and some deputies have criticized the president for nominating several ministers without the necessary experience of their fields.
But Reza Kasaeizadeh, managing director of the state National Iranian Gas Export Company, expressed hope that Mirkazemi would win the legislature's confidence vote, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.
"The proposed oil minister has a strategic view in this field and the country's oil industry currently needs to be updated and (he) ... has the ability to do it," Kasaeizadeh told Fars.
He said the minister could not be expected to be "experienced in all fields but what the oil industry needs is somebody who can manage all these fields properly."
At the start of a three-day parliamentary debate on Sunday, Ahmadinejad praised Mirkazemi as a "pure and committed person" who had been a successful manager and commerce minister.
The outcome of Wednesday's parliamentary verdict on the proposed ministers is seen as a test of Ahmadinejad's hold in Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, after his disputed re-election in the June 12 election.