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Iran prepares to open up to foreign oil companies
2015/NOV/1
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Mehdi Hosseini, who heads Iran s oil contracts revision committee, said Iran will welcome feedback from international oil companies on these contracts, after which further adjustments could be made, FT reported.
Executives of foreign oil companies, ranging from Italy s Eni and France s Total to Japan s Mitsubishi and Russia s Lukoil, were in Tehran in mid-October to hold discussions with Iranian officials — the first major oil and gas conference since the July nuclear deal with world powers.
Leaders of some of the world s biggest oil companies believe the prize of winning business in Iran is worth the effort, even as $50 a barrel oil forces them to curb investment elsewhere.
European and Asian players stole a march on their American rivals at the conference by delivering pitches about their companies" competence. Although international sanctions remain in place, European oil majors have been able to speak to their Iranian counterparts and provide feedback on draft contracts while the US has stricter laws preventing them from doing so.
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has a vision of his country returning to export and production levels that existed prior to the imposition of sanctions by overhauling a sector starved of investment.
Foreign oil companies are being invited to become partners in a range of exploration, appraisal, development and production activities.
Zanganeh said Iran could increase production by 500,000 barrels a day immediately following the lifting of sanctions and within seven months to attain its pre-sanctions level of at least 3.4 mbpd.
Iran aims eventually to increase oil production to more than 5 mbpd and gas to 1.4 billion cubic meters a day.
Rainer Seele, chairman and chief executive of OMV, which is looking to invest in oil and gas infrastructure, said "it will be a delicate undertaking " for the country. He adds that Iran will need vast sums of foreign funding and technological expertise to consistently produce at these levels.
Rokneddin Javadi, head of the National Iranian Oil Company and deputy oil minister, says the Islamic Republic needs $100 billion over the next five years to develop the upstream oil sector alone.
The investment, he says, would be well worth the reward for international oil majors. Iran s production cost is low — at between $5-10 a barrel for offshore production and even lower for onshore.
Iran s hydrocarbon reserves are owned by four state companies and their subsidiaries, which are controlled by the Oil Ministry. President Hassan Brouhaha s government has sought to privatize some segments of the industry through asset sales and the transfer of shares.
Companies such as Eni and Total are keen to tout their ability to provide financing to Iran, as well as offer access to markets, technical know-how and competence at managing costs efficiently, particularly in a low oil price environment. Iran has identified nearly 50 projects available for licensing.
Hossein Abbasi, a domestic services contractor, said: "Big European companies have already spoken with us saying they have talked to their banks and they are ready to work with us. Not only are they ready, we are ready too.
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News 2015/NOV/1 |
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Iran, Finland hold talks on bilateral cooperation
2015/Oct/27
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President of Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran Mohammad Khazaee held talks with Finland s Under-Secretary of State for External Economic Relations Matti Anttonen.
Khazaee said Iran welcomes and supports the presence of Finnish investors in the country.
He further called for exchange of economic delegations between the two countries.
The Finnish official, for his part, expressed satisfaction over the presence of the Iranian entrepreneurs in the investment conference in Finland.
He announced that a high-ranking economic delegation from Finland is to visit Tehran on December 8-9.
He then called for bilateral cooperation in the areas of transportation, technology and environment
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News 2015/Oct/27 |
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India ONGC in talks with Tehran over gas project
2015/Oct/27
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"They (Indians) came to us" to discuss reviving the deal, The Wall Street Journal quoted Ali Akbar Shabanpour, the managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Co., as saying on Tuesday.
He added that an official with the Indian company, known as ONGC, raised the issue at an energy conference in Tehran last week. "We will get the history and documentation of the project" and discuss a possible return, Shabanpour added.
ONGC discovered gas in the field in 2008, but left the project after 2010 as the US pressured the country to quit business with Iran over sanctions against the country.
On July 14, Iran and the P5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached a conclusion over the text of a comprehensive 159-page deal on Tehrans nuclear program.
The nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), would terminate all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran once it comes into force.
October 18, was the so-called "adoption day" for the deal, which came 90 days after the two sides concluded their intensive negotiations in the Austrian capital of Vienna. The Iranian parliament voted to pass the details of a motion to implement the nuclear agreement on October 13.
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News 2015/Oct/27 |
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Samsung keen on Persian Gulf projects
2015/Oct/27
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"Samsung Company has formerly cooperated with us in developing floating storage unit (FSU) in the Persian Gulf," said Director General of National Iranian Continental Shelf Oil Company Said Hafezi after receiving a delegation from the company, Shana reported.
He noted that Samsung Company is involved in the construction of offshore facilities and power plants.
Samsung investment group has expressed its readiness to implement EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) and EPCF (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Financing Contract) projects in Iran, he said.
However, according to Hafezi, the Samsung Group is not going to participate in Iran new oil contracts. "Unlike Shell or Total oil companies, Samsung is not a general contractor and it is more a project-oriented company," he pointed out.
"The Samsung Group is not an energy field developer, and we are going to exploit the company potentials following the unveiling of the new contracts," said Hafezi.
The FSU constructed by the Samsung Group for Iran in the Persian Gulf is the largest floating storage unit in the world. It is 337 meters long, 60 meters wide and 33 meters high and weighs 51,400 tons.
The storage facility comprises 21 tanks and has a capacity of 2,207,000 barrels.
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News 2015/Oct/27 |
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Iran, Russia to develop joint banking
2015/Oct/25
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The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Valiollah Seif and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Valentinovich Novak stressed on clearing obstacles to improve the volume of trade exchange between Iranian and Russian business people, reported the public relations office of CBI after the meeting of the two officials late on Wednesday.
The report added that to ease banking procedures, increase the volume of trade, and solve the problems of the traders of both countries, Seif and Novak agreed upon developing commissioning relations between the banking networks of Iran and Russia.
They also agreed to open a joint bank of Iran and Russia, but the details were not discussed, according to the same source.
The public relations office of CBI stated that the Russians voiced their willingness to provide credit and finance for projects on developing infrastructures run by both private and public sectors.
The two sides left thorough examination of the proposal to be discussed later by deputy governors of both Iran’s and Russia’s central banks.
s:YNG/ IRN |
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News 2015/Oct/25 |
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