Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 5
By Fatih Karimov- Trend:
Iran is negotiating with some European countries to build refineries, an informed source said, Fars news agency reported Dec. 5.
Negotiations are almost finalized on the issue, the source said, adding Iran will invest in the refinery projects in some EU countries.
Based on the plan, Iran's crude oil will be refined in the joint refineries in the EU and then will be sold in the target countries, the source said.
Negotiations are also underway with India, Brazil and Indonesia for building joint refineries in the countries, the source added.
The Islamic Republic's Deputy Oil Minister Abbas Kazemi earlier said that Iran follows the idea of constructing refineries abroad.
Constructing refineries abroad with participation of international investors will safeguard Iran 's oil export for a long period of at least 20-25 years, he underlined.
Tehran can count on stable consumers for decades by building refineries in foreign countries, Kazemi said.
He also said that the Islamic Republic is negotiating with some foreign investors including delegations from India, China and Brazil on the issue.
Iran and Brazil have signed a preliminary memorandum of understanding (MoU) to build an oil refinery with capacity of refining 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
Tehran has held negotiations with an Indian company as well in order to construct a refinery with 400,000 barrel per day capacity.
By holding 157 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of crude oil.
Just a year ago, Iran announced that it is preparing to build five refineries in Indonesia with total refining capacity of 300,000 barrels per day, aimed to diversification of Iran 's oil export.
Iran also inked a contract in 2008 to build a refinery-petrochemical complex in Malaysia to produce gas oil, gasoline, jet fuel, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petrochemical raw materials.
Iran's current oil production is estimated to be around 2.8 million barrels per day of which about one million barrels are exported.