Azerbaijan, Baku, May 5/Trend M. Moezzi
Iran's oil minister said that his country will spend more than $50 billion on oil projects this year and invest $200 billion to achieve its oil industry's goals as set out in its five-year plan.
Speeding up the development of Iran's share of joint oil and gas fields South Pars, shared with Qatar; Azadegan, shared with Iraq; and Farzad A, shared with Saudi Arabia are top priorities the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reports.
While sanctions have driven up some costs, they have created an opportunity for domestic producers to build the equipment Iran's oil industry needs, Rostam Ghasemi, Iran's Oil Minister said.
Iran's Fifth Five-Year Socio Economic Development Plan (2011-2015) stipulates that $200 billion should invested in the oil industry, and 1.4 billion cubic meters of gas and five million barrels of oil have should produced. Mr. Ghasemi said the oil industry is on target with its production and development schedule.
Iran's oil industry and its central bank are targets of the West's sanctions. The sanctions have been levied against Iran because of its nuclear programme. Iran contends its programme is civilian and peaceful while the U.S. and its allies insist it is military in nature.