Iran, Malaysia to boost oil ties

TEHRAN, Oct. 23 (MNA) – Iranian oil minister has announced readiness to reinvigorate oil cooperation with Malaysia’s national oil company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas). On the sidelines of his meeting with Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry of Malaysia Dato’ Seri Mustafa Muhammad, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Iran welcomes arrival of Malaysian firms, Petronas in particular, since they hold a long history of relations with the country’s oil industry. “In 1997, Petronas worked along with Total of France in the developmental project for phases 2 and 3 of South Pars joint gas field,” recalled the official stressing that the project was successfully accomplished. He underlined that small Malaysian firms are also eager to make investments in Iran asserting that these companies need to possess and prove their financial capability. Oil minister of Iran further underscored that return of investment for foreign firms need to be carried out through a portion of final production. On Malaysia’s crude and oil product purchases from Iran, Zanganeh said the issue was raised during an earlier meeting and Iran’s proposal to the southeast Asian country was to begin with short-term trade projects before expanding ties. Prior to sanction years, the bulk of cooperation between National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Malaysia pertained to sales and exports of crude oil as Iran was deploying a daily average of 50 to 60 thousand barrels of crude oil to Malaysia’s Petrons under spot contracts, he continued. Bijan Zanganeh also recalled that one of NIOC’s most significant deals with Petronas was over the developmental project of South Pars Phase 11, “the project was supposed to be accomplished in collaboration with France’s Total and Repsol S.A. of Spain though the agreement was violated as a result of international sanctions against Iran.” Despite having had only a few years of activity in the oil and gas industry, Petronas remains among rare oil and gas companies who enjoy functionality and operational teams in both upstream and downstream oil sectors. The Malaysian oil and gas company is currently active in numerous fields including oil and gas refining, construction of pipelines, LNG transfer, gasoline stations management, manufacturing and marketing of petrochemicals and chemicals, exploration, exploitation, drilling, production and storage of crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas.