Page 7 - MEOG Week 35 2021
P. 7
MEOG POLICY MEOG
Iran appoints Owji
as new Oil Minister
IRAN JAVAD Owji has replaced Bijan Zanganeh as The change of administration is seen as a
Iran’s new oil minister, following his proposal significant shift in gear for Iran, away from the
for the role last month by incoming President comparatively moderate administration of Has-
Ebrahim Raisi. san Rouhani and Zanganeh under whose watch
His appointment was approved by the Ira- the capabilities of the local oil and gas sector
nian parliament, with MPs voting 198 to 70 in improved significantly despite the challenges
his favour following five days of debate about the posed by ongoing US-backed sanctions.
formation of Raisi’s 19 new cabinet members. 18 Perhaps the most noteworthy upstream
lawmakers abstained. achievements of the Rouhani era are the increase
Owji previously served as deputy to Oil Min- in oil production capacity at the south-western
ister Massoud Mir-Kazemi in 2009-2011 dur- West Karoun field cluster from 70,000 barrels
ing the second presidential term of Mahmoud per day in 2013 to the current 420,000 bpd and
Ahmedinejad. Mir-Kazemi was named as bringing nine of the 24 development phases of
the chairman of Iran’s Planning and Budget the supergiant South Pars gas field to fruition.
Organisation. Major progress was made in downstream
Owji served as managing director of the and grid connectivity, with the Persian Gulf Star
National Iranian Gas Co. (NIGC) and has held Refinery (PGSR) refinery project making Iran
top positions in Mofid Economics Group and self-sufficient in gasoline and 95% of the popu-
Petro Mofid Development Holding, two subsid- lation now connected to the country’s extensive
iaries of Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order gas network.
(EIKO or Setad). However, the departure of the US from
He was also a member of the Board of Trus- the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
tees of the Petroleum University of Technology (JCPOA) in 2018 hampered the government’s
and was CEO of South Zagros Oil and Gas Pro- efforts to bring about the major strides forward
duction Co. anticipated when the deal was struck.
Week 35 01•September•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7
