Page 43 - IRANRptOct21

9.0 Industry & Sectors 9.1 Sector news
9.1.1 Oil & gas sector news
Iran eyes $145bn in oil industry FDI with China’s help
Iran keen to expand output at shared fields
Iranian Petroleum Minister Javad Owji has said his ministry plans to attract $145bn in foreign and local direct investment for Iran's oil industry over the next four to eight years, while observing that the 13th presidential administration of the Islamic Republic is determined to bolster cooperation with Chinese companies, official energy news agency SHANA reported on September 21.
Owji's comments came after a meeting with Zhong Guidong, president of the office of China's Sinopec in Iran, on September 21. It followed Iran’s accession into the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which might unlock financial investment from countries like China and other members despite ongoing US sanctions levied against the Iranian oil industry.
“Last week, during my visit to the operational areas of Khuzestan Province, I visited Yadavaran Field, the first phase of which was developed by this company [Sinopec], and I was informed about the details of the development of the first phase of this field,” Owji said.
The minister added that Iran stood ready to co-operate fully with Chinese companies to develop oil industry projects in the upstream and downstream sectors, adding: "We expect the administration to have many partnerships and agreements between Iran and China."
Despite US sanctions, Sinopec continues to have an operation in Iran; its office is based in the uptown area of Tehran.
An oil industry expert speaking with bne IntelliNews, who didn’t want to give their name, said Sinopec along with other big Chinese oil companies has been exporting roughly 1mn barrels per day (bpd) from Iran in recent months despite a ban by the US.
China is one of eight countries that received a 180-day sanctions waiver from the US in 2018 that shielded continued imports of a specified volume of Iranian oil; it expired, but an unknown, though substantial, amount of grey market exports of Iranian crude have continued to go to China.
Under the waiver, China was allowed to buy 360,000 bpd of oil from the Islamic Republic over the 180 days.
Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji this week visited the southern province of Khuzestan and reiterated the country’s intent to further develop shared oilfields along the border with Iraq.
Speaking to the state energy sector media outlet Shana, Qassem Saedi, deputy head of the parliament’s Energy Committee, said that the visit “was aimed at reviewing the condition of drilling rigs, the activities of the province’s refining and petrochemical sectors, as well as the quantitative and qualitative assessment of production, development and operation at joint oilfields.” Khuzestan is home to the West Karoun cluster which includes several large oilfields that straddle the Iran-Iraq border, namely Azadegan, Yaran, Yadavaran and Darkhoein, with the first three divided into north and south projects. The block holds an estimated 67bn barrels of oil in place (OIP). Speaking of Owji’s visit to West Karoun for a tour of operations at Yadavaran, Saedi said: “The determination of the Oil Ministry in stepping toward increasing
43 IRAN Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com