Greece Keen to Buy Iran Gas
Hossein Esmaeili, general manager of Europe, America and Caspian Sea States Affairs at Iran's Ministry of Petroleum, has announced Greece's willingness to purchase gas from Iran.
In this regard, Iran's deputy minister of petroleum for international affairs and commerce Amir-Hossein Zamani-Nia recently met with Greece's Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs George Katrougalos to discuss cooperation between Tehran and Athens in energy sector.
"Greek companies are interested in presence in Iran's refining and gas industry, and they have expressed willingness to purchase gas from Iran," said Esmaeili.
Hellenic Petroleum, which is the largest refiner in Greece, is a European buyer of Iran's oil.
Katrougalos said Greece attaches great importance to its relations with Iran, noting that Athens is willing to broaden its cooperation with Iran in various domains.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited Tehran in February. Following that visit, Iran and Greece have been seeking to enhance their economic cooperation.
Indonesia to Buy Iran LPG
Iran and Indonesia have signed a heads of agreement for oil and gas cooperation. One of them was signed between Iran's MAPNA and Indonesia's PNL.
After meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said his country had agreed to purchase more than 500,000 metric tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Iran.
"We reached agreement with Iran to invest in refinery construction in East Java," he said.
Widodo said Iran had also agreed to build power plants in Indonesia in order to raise the power generation capacity of this country by up to 5,000 MW.
He added that Indonesia's state oil company planned to enhance recovery from Ab Teymour and Mansouri oil fields in Iran.
During his visit to Tehran, the Indonesian president was accompanied by 60 senior managers of private entities and different industries. In Tehran, they met and discussed with their Iranian counterparts about how to boost exchanges.
Hossein Ali-Morad, director of investment at National Petrochemical Company, has said that the NPC and an Indonesian company had reached an agreement for direct investment in four petrochemical projects in Iran.
"Based on studies which are planned to be conducted, one or two commercially viable projects would be chosen," he said.
Ali-Morad also said that the Indonesian company was willing to invest in Chabahar Port in southeastern Iran.
VW to Manufacture Gas-Fueled Cars in Iran
German auto giant Volkswagen plans to manufacture gas combustion motorcars in Iran.
Director of CNG project in the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC) Ali Mehrabi said the contract envisaged a ban on import of CNG equipment when the German company initiates the production line of gas combustion motor-cars.
He said that foreign companies have welcomed manufacturing equipment and gas combustion vehicles in Iran. “Foreign companies should set up factory in Iran to produce and sell equipment in the country,” he added.
He noted that 70% of the CNG equipment is secured by Iranian manufacturers.
“The CNG equipment are mostly imported from European states: Italy, Germany, Russia, and South Korea and Argentina and the equipment imported from South Korea has been indigenized and Russia has called for production of equipment in Iran,” he added.
Belarus, Iran Discuss Oil Equipment
Iran's Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh has said Tehran is willing to broaden its cooperation with Minsk in different sectors so as to benefit the long-term interests of both parties.
Zangeneh said he had discussed with Belarusian Minister of Industry VitalyVovk a host of issues including oil equipment manufacturing, as well as oil and petroleum products trade.
In a separate meeting with Iran's First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri, Vovk reaffirmed Poland's interest in further cooperation with Iran in oil sector.
"Belarus is ready to cooperate with Iran about oil refining and petrochemical products' exports," he said.
Before that, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had told Iran's outgoing ambassador to Minsk Mohammad-Reza Sabouri that Iran could benefit from Belarus's railway and road capacities, as well as its oil refineries for the production and transit of products to Europe and broadening of cooperation.
Noting that Iran and Belarus had to significantly enhance the level of their ties and highlighting the significance of measures undertaken so far for broader ties between Iran and Belarus during Sabouri's tenure, Lukashenko said: "The year 2017 will be decisive for our relations. We will announce everywhere that Tehran and Minsk are strategic partners. There are no problems between us; we are ready to cooperate in all sectors because there is no restriction."
Enhanced Recovery from Persian Gulf Reservoirs
Hamid Bovard, CEO of Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) has announced the company’s plan to enhance its oil production next calendar year which begins in March 2017.
"A daily increase of 30,000 to 60,000 b/d of crude oil is on the agenda," said Bovard.
He referred to development operations in some fields like Salman and Forouzan and the possibility of oil production enhancement in Doroud and Abouzar fields, saying: "In line with the objectives and under implementation projects of the company, we use different methods of investment."
IOOC was established in September 1980 in order to administer oil and gas fields in the Persian Gulf waters. Known as one of the largest producers of offshore oil, IOOC runs oil fields sprawling on more than 1,200 square kilometers in the Persian Gulf.
The IOOC-run reservoirs are estimated to hold 100 billion barrels of oil and 180 tcf of gas in place.