Baku, Azerbaijan, March 8
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
The director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) says the company plans to absorb foreign investment for building refineries and pipelines, IRNA reported on March 8.
There are lots of refineries, pipelines, and pressure boosting stations which should be established across the country, Hamid Reza Araqi said.
"We can benefit from foreign investments to implement such projects," he noted.
NIGC needs $165 billion investment over the next 10 years, he said.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has formally invited giant British oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum, to take part in the country's oil and gas projects, Iranian Mehr News Agency reported on Jan. 17.
The British companies say they will return to Iranian projects once the sanctions imposed on the country's oil and gas sector are completely lifted.
Deputy Oil Minister Emad Hosseini said on Jan. 14 that giant oil companies such as Shell and Total need to use the full capacity of Iran's domestic manufacturers in order to carry out projects in the country's oil and gas sector, the Mehr News Agency reported.
"Domestic manufacturers also need to boost the quality of their products in order to meet global standards" he explained.
"The cost of oil and gas projects has been increased by three to four times in the past few years," Hosseini said.
Iran has the world's fourth-largest proved national reserves of oil - most of it cheap to produce - and is home to the biggest proved reserves of natural gas, some 18 percent of the global total.
Iran reached an interim deal last month with six western powers to limit its nuclear program, under which sanctions on oil investment and trade with Iran may be eased next year. Although for now the agreement does not explicitly include a relaxation of the controls on Iranian oil sales.