Azerbaijan, Baku, Jul.11/ Trend F.Milad/
The Central Bank of Iran has opened a credit line worth $10 billion to finance a number of domestic oil projects in the upstream sector, a planning and supervision affairs official at the Oil Ministry stated.
Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr told the Shana News Agency on Wednesday that a list of prioritised projects will be introduced to the Central Bank in the near future.
"Benefiting from 18 per cent worth of assets belonging to the National Development Fund, the issue of $10 billion in foreign currency bonds, issuing 15 trillion rials in bonds and selling $10 billion worth of shares and properties of the Oil Ministry are among other sources of financing the oil projects," he added.
The European Union's oil embargo on Iran took effect on July 1 and a new U.S. law that penalises countries that do business with the Central Bank of Iran by denying their banks access to the United States market. The law came into force on June 28.
On July 2, the National Development Fund and the Oil Ministry signed an agreement, based on which the NDF will earmark $14 billion of its assets to oil industry projects.
Over 70 per cent of the sum will be spent on the development of oil and gas fields as well as expanding the upstream sector of the oil industry, Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said, adding that the rest will be channelled into the refining industries.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that the National Development Fund's assets would hit $55 billion by the end of the current calendar year (March 20, 2013).
According to the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015), the National Development Fund was established to transform oil and gas revenues to productive investment for future generation.
Iran transfers 20 per cent of oil revenues to National Development Fund.