Iran, Venezuela to form joint oil firm

A top Iranian oil official speaks of a fresh round of talks between Iran and Venezuela, saying the two sides have agreed to set up a joint oil shipping company.

Upcoming Tehran-Caracas talks will focus on the establishment of a joint oil shipping company as agreed in a memorandum of understanding the two countries signed last year, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Hossein Noghrekar Shirazi told Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.

“We intend to purchase a few oil tankers to pave the way for the establishment of this shipping company”, he underscored.

Iran’s deputy oil minister said the joint venture will help boost mutual cooperation in upstream and downstream oil, gas and petrochemical industries.

The company will also export Venezuela’s crude oil as well as oil products to Asian and European countries.

Meantime, another Iranian oil official said Iran currently has the largest fleet of oil tankers in the Middle East which is the fourth largest in the world.

Hassan Ahmadian said the Venezuelan National Oil Company and Iran’s Petropars are in talks at the moment, discussing development of oil fields.

Meantime, Deputy Oil Minister Hossein Noghrekar Shirazi also touched upon oil cooperation with Iran’s neighbors.

“Negotiations are underway to draw a road map on oil and gas cooperation with regional countries” he said.

He highlighted Iran welcomes promotion of cooperation with regional nations, adding ground is now prepared for foreign investment as well as multilateral partnership in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries.