Baku, Azerbaijan, March 8
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Slovakia wants to buy crude oil from Iran, said Amir Hossein Zamaninia, Iran's deputy oil minister.
He made the remarks after a meeting with the visiting Slovak Minister of Economy Vazil Hudak in Tehran, the oil ministry's official SHANA news agency reported March 8.
Zamaninia further said that Slovakia is interested to participate in various oil and gas projects in Iran, in particular in refinery and LNG sectors.
Iranian refineries need $1.7 billion investment for renovation, he said, adding that Slovak companies can participate in the refinery projects.
Zamaninia also noted that Slovakia can invest in Iran's oil industry, which is planned to receive $185 billion investment during the Sixth Five Year Development Plan (2016-2021).
Iran is also eyeing to export gas to Europe in the next four to five years, he added.
Iran's gas export is planned to reach 200 million cubic meters per day by 2021.
The country also plans to boost oil production to 5.7 million barrels a day and gas output to 1.4 billion cubic meters a day by 2021.
By holding 157.8 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of crude oil.
The Islamic Republic also holds 34 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves, sharing 18.2 percent of total global gas reserves, which puts the country in the top of the world's gas holders list.