Islamic Republic of Iran calls for huge oil consortiums

Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi says the private sector should form “huge oil consortiums” to finance energy projects in the country.

“The Oil Ministry has no plan to downsize its projects and the oil industries’ contractors should expand their activity,” IRNA quoted Qasemi as saying in a gathering of oil industry manufacturers, contractors and consultant engineers in Tehran on Thursday.

“In the near future many oil projects will be carried out in the joint fields, so the acceleration of the formation of oil consortiums is necessary,” he noted.

Iran should invest 50 billion dollars in the oil sector every year which is 2.5 times higher than the annual developmental budget, the Iranian oil minister said.

Qasemi stated that part of that figure would come from the annual budget.

“A large part of it should be provided by selling bonds both in rials and foreign exchange,” he added.

Qasemi said Iranian manufacturers and contractors measured up to their Korean and Chinese counterparts, but they had problems with project schedule due to low funds.

Iranian officials say investments in the oil and gas sector are profitable and therefore foreigners are always interested in making investments in Iran.