60 Companies Keen on Working with NISOC

More than 60 Iranian and foreign companies have expressed willingness to negotiate with the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) about a framework of contract developed by this company.

Hamid Daris, director for technical affairs of NISOC, said: "We have had talks with 33 companies and 28 more companies are waiting for an appointment to meet with the NISOC."

He said the NISOC-designed framework of contract was a domestically developed one backed by Iran's Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh. He added that a group of experts and technicians have developed this model.

"The minister of petroleum and the then CEO of National Iranian Oil Company requested the NISOC's viewpoints about the new model of oil contracts and we presented our views in different fields," he added.

Daris said Minister Zangeneh spent a lot of time on studying this framework of contract.

Linde Eyes Investment in Bandar Imam Petchem Plant

Opportunities for investment in Bandar Imam Petrochemical Plant were discussed with experts from Germany's Linde.

Reza Amiri, CEO of Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company, said: "In the light of the reopening of Linde's office in Iran, during the visit to Tehran of the CEO of this company, [the company] expressed its readiness for investment in and transfer of technology to projects at Bandar Imam Petrochemical Plant."

He said that following the implementation of Iran's nuclear deal with six world powers, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Linde had re-launched its activity in different sectors, including petrochemical sector.

Amiri said Linde experts voiced interest in renewed presence in BIPC and contribution to BIPC projects. Linde's experts also suggested their proposed models of cooperation.

BIPC and Linde also exchanged views about investment opportunities and the removal of technical and production bottlenecks.

Marzieh Shahdaei, CEO of National Petrochemical Company (NPC) had already welcomed the return of foreign companies post-JCPOA.

"Immediately after the JCPOA [implementation], Linde presented different proposals on EPC and investment in order to start its activity in the petrochemical industry," she said.

Last August, a contract, with 34.96 million euros, was signed between Kian Petrochemical Company and Linde for granting technical knowhow to and basic engineering of olefin, butadiene, benzene and hydro-di-alkylation.

Iran Becomes Japan's 5th Oil Supplier

Japan's oil imports exceeded 200,000 b/d during the first eight months of the current Iranian year which started on March 20. Iran is now the fifth largest supplier of oil to Japan.

In 2014 and 2015, Iran was the 6th supplier of oil to Japan with a 5% share of its oil market. Over the past eight months, Iran has accounted for 6.5% of Japan's oil needs.

The top suppliers of oil to Japan are Saudi Arabia (exporting 1.155 mb/d) and the United Arab Emirates (818,000 b/d). Saudi has a share of 34.6% while the UAE has a 25% share of Japan's oil market.

During the 8-month period, Iran was exporting 214,000 b/d of oil to Japan.

In 2016, Japan imported 2.95 mb/d of crude oil from the member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC member states have an 88% share of Japan's oil imports.

Qatar and Kuwait are the third and the fourth largest suppliers of oil to Japan. Iran and Russia come in the 5th position.

Zangeneh, Slovenia Minister Hold Talks

Iran's Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh met with Slovenia's Minister of Economic Development and Technology Zdravko Počivalšek in Tehran.

They discussed ways of cooperation between the two countries. Počivalšek travelled to Tehran as part of a delegation led by President Borut Pahor. The Slovenian minister said in the meeting, that his country was ready to jointly manufacture equipment with Iran to be exported to regional countries.

Separately, Pahor and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani signed three documents of cooperation in economic, communications and nanotechnology sectors.

Pahor's visit to Tehran was the first by a Slovenian head of state in 25 years. During the visit,Slovenia reopened its embassy in Tehran.

Slovenia is proprietor of technology in electronics, mechanics, communications and power plants particularly dam sluices.

Iran, Poland Ready for Marine Transportation Cooperation

National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) and Polish company CIECH Trading SA, a subsidiary of Ciech SA, are willing to sign an agreement aimed at transporting Iranian crude oil, LNG and petrochemicals as well as bunkering of ships.

Based in Warsaw, CIECH Trading was established in 1987 and currently is the largest Polish distributor of raw materials, chemical products and reagents.

"We are eager to begin joint investment in a wide variety of fields like bunkering as well as carrying of petrochemical products and liquefied natural gas," said Tomasz Grzela, managing director of Ciech Trading SA after a round of talks conducted in Tehran on November 17, 2016, between representatives of the both companies.

He also proposed that a joint venture company might be established for development of cooperation between the two companies.

"The ground has been paved for the expansion of collaboration with Polish firms in a wide range of sectors, including marine transport and shipping liquefied gas and petrochemicals," said Sirous Kian Ersi, the CEO of NITC, adding that the Iranian company is planning to increase the number of ships to carry liquefied gas, including LNG and LPG.

Kian Ersi also said that Iran welcomed the initiative to establish joint venture companies between the two countries.

"We are ready to launch joint cooperation with Warsaw in the field of liquefied natural gas transport," he said, referring to Iran’s plan of increasing LNG exports.

Iran intends to establish small-scale and floating LNG production units with output capacity of 10 million tons per year, which would help to break into the international LNG market that reportedly has a 30% share in the total global gas trade. According to reports, Iran is negotiating with a foreign company to set up an FLNG unit in the Persian Gulf.

Norway's DNO to Study Changuleh Field

Iran has signed an agreement with Norway’s DNO to study the development of a key oil field which is believed to be jointly shared with Iraq in a yet another sign that shows Western companies are already welcoming the country’s lucrative post-sanctions investment opportunities.  

The agreement – which DNO signed with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) - involves studying Changuleh oil field which sits on Iran’s border with Iraq in the western province of Ilam.

Based on the agreement, Norway’s fourth largest oil and gas company will study Changuleh within six months – a crucial move that could enable it to win a deal to develop the field once the related talks with the NIOC succeed.  

NIOC Director for Engineering and Development Affairs Gholam-Reza Manouchehri told reporters after signing the agreement with DNO’s Managing Director Bjorn Dale that the field could be linked to another nearby field named Azar. 

Iran had previously announced that Azar, itself, was linked to Iraq’s Badra oil field.   A domestic company – Sarvak Azar Engineering and Development Company – is already pushing ahead the development of the field with a target production of 65,000 b/d.  The target production of Changuleh is 50,000 b/d. 

Azar and Changuleh were discovered in 2005 as a result of explorations conducted by a consortium comprising Russia’s Lukoil and Norway’s Statoil.  Both fields – together with Iraq’s Badra – are believed to hold in-place reserve of about 3.5 billion barrels.