Official: Huge Investment Underway to Develop Oil Projects

A senior Iranian oil official announced on Sunday that a sum of $126bln worth of projects are underway to develop Iran’s oil industry.

Addressing a conference on oil industry on Sunday, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr said the ministry is seeking to produce wealth for the country in the downstream and upstream sectors during the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015).

He added that a total $126 worth of projects are underway across the country to attain part of the oil ministry objectives.

Khojasteh Mehr further said based on the plan, Iran is due to boost oil production by one million barrels per day, gas production by 250%, oil refining capacity by 2.4 million barrels per day, gas refining by 1.2 billion cubic meters and petrochemical production capacity to 100 million tons per year.

In July 2012, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi said the country planned to start making billions of dollars of investment in its oil and gas projects.

“Under the five year development plan terms, 50 billion dollars should be invested in upstream and downstream projects annually,” Qassemi told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony held to mark endorsement of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the National Development Fund and oil ministry.

In similar remarks this month, Qassemi said 57 Mehr Mandegar (Lasting Kindness) projects currently underway in the oil sector will come online before the end of President Ahmadinejad’s tenure in June 2013.