SHANA - The Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Ali Kardor said plans are under way to introduce project funds for financing Iran's recovery and maintenance projects in oil industry.

Addressing the 2nd International Congress and Exhibition of Oil Exploration and Production and the 5th International Congress and Exhibition of Iran's Drilling Industry here in Tehran on Saturday, the official said selling shares, equity sale and tapping the National Development Fund of Iran (NDFI) are considered as financing options for these projects.

People can invest in the fund by purchasing units, and EPC and E&P companies can allocate their funds to purchase of stocks, the official said.

He also underlined equity sale, and said that measures had been taken to cover the risk of exchange rate fluctuations.

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Initialization of 3 Oil Contracts by March

The deputy minister of petroleum announced the initialization of three NIOC development contracts by the end of this calendar year to March 20, and said that 10 technical groups are active in talks over developing new Iranian oil contracts.

"We expect finalization of several contracts next [calendar] year despite the slow pace of talks," he added.

Referring to NIOC policy of outsourcing and moving towards supervisory and employer activities, Kardor said: "Although private developers have not displayed a highly satisfactory pace in their progress, I believe they have worked better than us (state sector)."

He further predicted that construction of two natural gas liquids (NGL) units will finish next calendar year, adding the NGL 3200 project will come on-stream in the calendar year 1398.

 

Tender for Developing North Azadegan Project

The NIOC managing director said a tender to cede the development project of North Azadegan Oilfield will be held soon, adding that the current contract is short-term, but there is a long-term plan for developing the project.

He also announced the storage of about 10 million barrels of oil in the Genaveh inventories, and stated that the contract to construct Jask Storage Facility will be concluded soon.