MOnday, 19 April 2010

Tehran, April 18, IRNA – International Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Exhibition is one of the most successful events in the Iran and the region.


Expressing this, Majid Nasseri-Nejad, a member of Majlis Energy Commission told IRNA on Sunday that the earlier 14 rounds of the event have been able to introduce Iranian experts’ capabilities the field.

The exhibit has also managed to forge an excellent interaction between different sections of production, research and engineering, he noted.

The lawmaker further noted that Iran should turn into the first petrochemical power in the region in future and the exhibit can help materialize this purpose.

Active presence of foreign companies in the exhibit indicates their willingness to participate in the Iranian energy projects in defiance of West-imposed sanctions, Nasseri-Nejad said.

The exhibition is an opportunity for Iranian companies to forge further interaction with their foreign counterparts and promote foreign investment in the country’s oil, gas and petrochemical sectors.

 
Some 929 Iranian and 434 foreign companies will participate in the 15th International Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Exhibition which is scheduled to be held in Tehran’s Permanent International Exhibitions Fairground from April 22-26.

Regular presence of leading international firms in the past 14 rounds of the event and a 10-percent increase in the number of participants in the upcoming one indicate the significance of Iran’s oil industry in the world.

Participating countries include China, Austria, Spain, Ukraine, UAE, Britain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Belgium, Thailand, Taiwan, Czech, Denmark, Russia, Romania, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Oman, France, Finland, South Korea, Mexico, Norway and India.
 

TEHRAN (Shana): Iranian petroleum minister, Dr Seyed Masoud Mirkazemi says the US led sanctions have failed remarking the country faces no problem to meet oil products and the Islamic Republic of Iran will be an oil products exporting country in near future.

Speaking on the sidelines of the today's cabinet session, Mr. Masoud Mirkazemi, told reporters sanctions against Iran are not a new phenomenon and we have no problem confronting them adding that we have been experiencing hostile sanctions for more than 30 years.

Replying a question about reducing oil exports to China, the petroleum minister said: the news is baseless and our relation with China is good.

In response to Shana question about the ministry of petroleum budget for the year 1389 (started on 21 March) the petroleum minister said the budget, with the participation of the government, parliament and the observatory institutions have been fixed in a way that all sides are satisfied with it.

He went on to say that the budget is completely transparent and the share of the ministry of petroleum in it is completely clear.

Denying allegations that ministry of petroleum has proposed natural gas prices to be increased by 10 fold, the petroleum minister noted that the ministry has suggested gas prices should be set in a way that uncontrolled gas consumption to be reduced by 30 percent.

Stating that the country's gas consumption is above the world standards, Dr. Mirkazemi remarked currently each cubic meter of gas is traded 37 to 40 cents in world markets and even if domestic prices to rise to 9 cents, it would be less that a quarter of world prices.

He concluded consumption must be controlled and we are not authorized to use all domestically produced products but it is necessary part of it to be exported and by resulted revenue, to create jobs and promote industry and agricultural programs.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

TEHRAN (Shana): Stabilizing gas market will be the most important topic in the Gas Exporting Countries Forum's agenda that is going to be held in Oran in Algeria on 19 April", says Iran's representative at the forum, Mohammad Ali Khatibi.


In an exclusive interview with Shana, Mr. Khatibi told Tuesday morning that 10th Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) would be held in Algeria on 17 April, but prior to the ministerial meeting, Executive Committee session takes hold on 16-17 April.

Having said that gas market review is among the main topics of the gathering, Mr. Khatibi remarked that gas market developments have been reviewed during the recent GECF sessions seriously. He further said that before holding the ministerial meetings, executive committee of the forum examines market situation and introduces its expertise views to the ministerial meeting.

Noting that administrative and financial subjects are among the other topics of the gathering, Mr. Khatibi added that GECF reviews different topics among them supply and demand balance, transportation, exploration, production and new technologies related to gas industry.

Concerning the possibility of reducing gas supply following lower gas prices in the market, Mr. Khatibe said: GECF does not intend to enter the subject because decision making in this regard needs preparatory works and needs that all the forum members achieve a common understanding on the subject.

He stipulated that GECF is on the initial steps of influencing the market so if it behaves hastily will not be able to affect the market on a desirable way.


The Gas Exporting Countries Forum in its previous session in December 2009 decided to choose Russian nomination Leonid Bokhanovsky, vice president of Russian energy engineering and construction company Stroytransgaz as the first secretary general of the club.

Other GECF members are Algeria, Bolivia, Equatorial Guinea, Egypt, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.

TEHRAN (Shana) - Iran is ready to participate in reconstruction of Zimbabwe's refinery and feed it, said Iran's petroleum minister Masoud Mirkazemi in a meeting with the President Robert Mugabe's envoy here on Tuesday.

Following the meeting with the Zimbabwe Minister of State for Security Didymus Mutasa, Mr. Mirkazemi said: the African country is interested to buy crude oil from Iran and demands Iran's help to reconstruct one on its refineries.

The petroleum minister added we are ready to train the Zimbabwe oil industry staff so they can manage their oil industry in the future.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Mr. Mirkazemi said that the two countries presidents have previously signed a Momorandum of Understanding (MoU) for reconstruction one of the Zimbabwe refineries and the talks with Didymus Mutasa was held in order to implement the Memorandum of Understanding.

The petroleum minister went on to say that the Zimbabwe delegation expressed its willingness to cooperate with Iran in construction a number of refineries in other African countries.

During the meeting, Didymus Mutasa emphasized on Iran's importance as a main oil producing country and said: The Islamic Republic of Iran is capable to play an important role in meeting Zimbabwe's oil needs.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

TEHRAN (Shana) - The first installment of a €1 billion bond offering to help fund development of South Pars gas field has faced widespread welcome and it is predicted all the offered bonds for the first phase worth of 250 million euros to be sold today, a Bank Mellat official said.

In an exclusive interview with Shana newswire, head of Bank Mellat's international department Saeed Ghafari said: Offering South Pars gas field bonds has started today morning, 10 March.

Stating that the buyers are mainly from the perisan Gulf countries and South East Asia, especially from Japan and Malysia, Mr. Ghafari said bonds worth of 100 euros have been sold and it is predicted all the bonds allocated for the first phase to be sold today .

He added that some foreign banks are interested to buy the bonds but they have been barred from the move due to the US sanctions, even though some of them willing to buy the bonds in an informal way.

Referring to widespread demand for the bonds, Ghafari noted that remaining bonds worth of 750 million euros would be released in one phase in the beginning of the next year on 21 March.

Based on the previous planning it was scheduled total bonds worth of one billion euros to be released in four phases.

The bonds, designed to help finance development of phases 15-18 of the South Pars natural gas field, will have a maturity of three years and an interest rate of eight percent.

the vice president for investment at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) told Shana yesterday the company guarantees the bonds noting that international reputation of NIOC supports the move.

Hojatollah Ghanimifard pointed out that there are different ways to provide resources for oil industry projects including buyback and finance noting that but it is not confined to these methods. Mr. Ghanimifard continued offering bonds is one of the ways to finance oil and gas projects and to diversify financing them.