Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.1 / Trend F.Milad/
Iran will issue $15 billion in sukuk bonds in the current Iranian calendar year (to end on March 20, 2012) to be invested in the domestic oil industry, oil minister Rostam Qasemi said.
He added that the bonds will soon be offered on the stock market, the Shana news agency reported.
Sukuk is an Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond that complies with Sharia, Islamic religious law. Sukuks must be able to link the returns and cash flows of the financing to the assets purchased, or the returns generated from an asset purchased.
He said $10 billion will be issued in participation bonds for oil industry projects.
Iran needs to invest $48 billion to spur development of its oil and natural-gas industries, said Deputy Oil Minister Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr in October.
Development of the South Pars gas field, the world's largest deposit of its kind, is a priority, and funds will be channeled there for as long as necessary, he said. Some $16 billion needs to be invested at the field, which Iran shares with Qatar, Khojasteh-Mehr said, without specifying a date.
In 2009, Iran said that development of the remaining phases of South Pars required investment of $40 billion over 10 years.