IRNA- Iran welcomes contribution of powerful foreign companies to development of oil industry in the Caspian Sea, said an Iranian official on Saturday.

Addressing a group of his personnel, Managing Director of the Caspian Oil Company Ali Osuli said, 'We will gain better results in the oil and gas sectors in the Caspian Sea in case of cooperation with foreign companies. But we do not wait for them, and we advance the processes of work by relying on domestic power.�

Deputy Director of the Development and Engineering Affairs Department at National Iranian Oil Company was also present in the meeting on Saturday.

He added, 'After the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), we held elaborate meetings at the Caspian Oil Company with the world�s leading companies specializing deep waters and signed memoranda of understanding in that connection but if foreign companies do not participate in the projects, we continue our activities by relying on our internal ability.�

Osuli emphasized that in the past, Iranian officials looked at the Caspian Sea more from political and security point of view than economic, but today, the economic-political view has dominated via exploratory activities undertaken by the Caspian oil company, which led to the discovery of Sardar Jangal field.

Studies on the five deep water regions of the world as the triangle of North America, the Gulf of Mexico and South Africa, is the most famous examples of the group, reveals that exploration activities in deep water have not reduced rather increased.

Due to Iran's access to rich hydrocarbon resources in the Persian Gulf, Khuzestan and the central regions for many years, exploration and exploitation in the Caspian Sea has not been considered, but in recent years, the Ministry of Oil has paid special attention to the development of the area.

In May 2012, digging the first exploration well of Sardar Jangal in the Caspian Sea was completed and estimated to contain two billion barrels of in situ oil reserves.