Iran’s Oil Minister, CEO of Germany’s Siemens Discuss Release of Oil Equipment

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and CEO of Siemens AG Joe Kaeser on Monday held talks on the latest measures to deliver some of the oil equipment and properties of the South Pars phases which had been seized by the German firm in the sanctions era.

During the meeting held in Tehran, Zanganeh pointed to the removal of unilateral sanctions imposed by the West against the Islamic Republic following the implementation of a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, calling for the restoration of Iran’s rights and the release of its oil equipment by Siemens as soon as possible.

Siemens AG has announced its readiness to deliver the oil equipment and properties, including turbo compressors of Phases 17 and 18 in the South Pars gas field, to Iran.

The CEO of Pars Oil and Gas Company, Ali Akbar Shabanpour, also said that currently, the process of releasing the oil equipment has begun.

Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) on July 14, 2015 reached a conclusion over the text of a comprehensive 159-page deal on Tehran’s nuclear program and started implementing it on January 16.

The comprehensive nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), terminated all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran.

The South Pars gas field, whose development has been divided into 28 phases, is located in the Persian Gulf straddling the maritime border between Iran and Qatar.

It is estimated that the Iranian section of the field contains 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of condensates in place.

South Pars is part of a wider gas field that is shared with Qatar. The larger field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran’s territorial waters (South Pars) in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, referred to as the North Dome, are in Qatar’s territorial waters.