Iran, Int’l Firms Cooperate on HSE
National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) is cooperating with international companies in the field of security, health and environment (HSE).
Mohammad-Reza Yousefi-Pour, HSE director of NIGC, said: “By benefiting from the state-of-the-art technology, this company has been engaged in significant activities in the HSE sector.”
“Given the high sensitivity of gas industry, in addition to the capability of qualified domestic companies, international companies with good reputation and technical savvy could be also engaged,” he said.
Yousefi-Pour said NIGC is cooperating with companies from France, Sweden, England, Australia and the Netherlands in the domain of HSE.
“So far, visits have been made to different sections of gas industry by these companies and they have offered proposals for upgrading the HSE level,” he added.
Yousefi-Pour gave a positive assessment of the gas industry’s HSE conditions, saying protection of the environment is a priority of gas industry.
Lukoil Studying Two Iran Oil Fields
Iran’s Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh and CEO of Russia’s Lukoil Vagit Alekperov have met in Tehran and exchanged views about ways to increase cooperation.
Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Alekperov said Lukoil has already signed two confidentiality agreements with National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) on Ab Teimour and Mansouri oil fields.
“Our experts are studying the data of these fields and they will go to Ahvaz (western Iran) for more examination. We will submit the results of preliminary studies on these fields to NIOC in the near future,” he said.
“Due to the extent of Iranian oil fields and the high volume of deposits, a company cannot naturally handle the development of all oil fields. Therefore, we focus on these two fields so that we would reach conclusion sooner,” he added.
Alekperov said that Lukoil was also studying the Persian Gulf area for future discovery projects.
Regarding investment in Iran’s oil fields, he said: “Studies are under way about how to invest.”
For his part, Zangeneh said Lukoil has signed an MoU for the development of an Iranian oil field.
He also called for long-term cooperation between NIOC and Lukoil.
South Pars Condensate Exports Cross 70mbb
South Pars Gas Complex (SPGC) has exported more than 76 million barrels of gas condensate since the start of the current calendar year, SPGC chief Masoud Hassani has said.
He said that the 76 million barrels, which were exported during the first half of the current calendar year which started on March 20, were up 25% year-on-year.
Hassani also said that 1.35 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was exported from SPGC to different countries during the same six-month period. “This amount was 6% higher from the year before and its outcome was further currency generation for the country, continuous production of high-quality products at this complex and the materialization of the slogan of Resistive Economy (instructed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei).”
Noting that SPGC’s brilliant record has caused regional development and entrepreneurship in the country, Hassani said: “This complex is currently supplying around 62% of the country’s gas needs and this great achievement has been made thanks to efforts by specialized and young manpower.”
“In addition to meeting domestic needs in the country, SPGC has turned into one of the largest hard currency-generating gas companies for the country,” he said.
Central Asia, Persian Gulf Get Iran-Made Items
Central Asian and the Persian Gulf littoral states are buyers of certain Iranian oil industry equipment, a senior Iranian official has said.
Deputy Minister of Petroleum for Engineering, Research and Technology Mohammad-Reza Moqaddam said Iranian manufacturers are now capable of manufacturing 60 to 65 percent of the equipment needed by the petroleum industry.
He added equipment, used in the upstream sectors of exploration and extraction, and the equipment used in downstream sector like refining, gas and petrochemicals are exported to neighboring countries.
He noted that upstream sector equipment is further in volume than downstream sector equipment.
The official put the total value of indigenized petroleum industry items at around $2 billion.
Iran, Kenya Ready for Oil Product Trading
Iran’s petroleum minister has said that Iran and Kenya are now able to broaden their cooperation in oil and petroleum products supply.
Bijan Zangeneh said in a meeting with the visiting speaker of Kenya's National Assembly, Justin Muturi, in Tehran that the removal of international sanctions on Iran has paved the way for such cooperation.
“Cooperation with Africa is a priority in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy,” he said.
Zangeneh said Iran and Kenya had singed memorandums of understanding in the past, a small part of which was put into practice.
“With the removal of sanctions, better conditions are provided for expanding cooperation,” he added.
Separately, Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani said following a meeting with his Kenyan counterpart that they had discussed bilateral cooperation in different economic, agricultural industrial, oil and gas, medical equipment and pharmaceutical fields.
He said that the necessary arrangements are made for facilitating broader economic cooperation between Iran and Kenya.
Located in East Africa, Kenya is a buyer of Iran’s condensate. Last year it bought several cargoes of gas condensate and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Iran.
Kenya has expressed its willingness for purchasing different petroleum products from Iran.
German banks urged to provide more guarantees
Iran's petroleum minister Bijan Zangeneh has announced that Iranian and German companies are resuming cooperation now that sanctions against the Islamic Republic have been lifted.
In a meeting with the visiting German vice-chancellor and minister of economy, Sigmar Gabriel, Zangeneh said plenty of negotiations have been held between Iranian and German companies as part of plans under way by the two countries to broaden ties following the implementation of Iran's nuclear deal with six world powers.
"Linde, Siemens and Lurgi are already cooperating with their Iranian partners. In case German companies complete their [financing] guarantees the two countries will see a good future," said the Iranian minister.
Earlier, Gabriel said an Iran-Germany business meeting that the two countries were interested in expanding relations particularly in the economic sector.
"Hermes insurance company can start its work in Iran although there are some financial problems and obstacles, but through cooperation between private entities and enterprises of the two countries, we can change the conditions," he said.
During the visit to Tehran of the German minister, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Iranian and German central banks.
Gabriel led a 160-member business delegation to Iran, the largest European delegation. The visit was aimed at boosting cooperation and facilitating transfer of technology through investment.
During this visit, ten memoranda of understanding were signed between the two sides for broader cooperation.