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Iran welcomes foreign companies to invest in country's oil and gas industry - minister

Business Materials 19 April 2012 17:38 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 19 / Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/

Iran welcomes foreign companies that want to invest in country's oil and gas industry, Islamic Republic's oil minister Rostam Qasemi said today at a press conference, IRIB news reported.

Speaking about the upcoming "Iran-Six powers" talks that are scheduled to take place in Baghdad, Qasemi noted that Iran's government expects the question of softening the sanctions on Iran to be discussed.

"If the Europeans do not cancel the "oil sanctions", they will feel serious experience a major impact on the energy market and sphere of energy security as well," Qasemi said. "Europe's response to Iran at the Baghdad talks is of great importance for the crude oil market. We expect good news".

Two rounds of talks between Iran and the P5+1 countries have been held in Istanbul this past weekend, and, according to official statements, the discussions were "constructive".

The Iranian side was represented by Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary,chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, while EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton handled the matters for the Six European powers (four permanent U.N. Security Council members Britain, France, China and Russia, plus Germany).

The minister also spoke of Iran's oil reserves, and said that the Oil Ministry has decided to increase country's oil reserves.

According to Qasemi, currently Iran has 155 bln barrels of recoverable oil reserves, while its proven oil reserves stand at 600 bln. As for daily statistics, Iran extracts around 3,300 mln barrels for both domestic use and export.

Qasemi underscored that considering modern technologies, Iran will be increasing its oil storage for domestic use.

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