Content
Iran urges Korean companies to participate in energy and water sector projects
Bijan Zangeneh says Korean companies can extend operations from merely contract works to investment in Iran’s petroleum projects
Korea provides $5 billion in finance to fund Iran’s infrastructure projects
Iran and Singapore conclude MoU on developing economic cooperation
Iran and Switzerland develop aviation service cooperation
Iran pushing forward with plans to ramp up oil output Iran-Korea
Iran urges Korean companies to participate in energy and water sector projects
Bijan Zangeneh says Korean companies can extend operations from merely contract works to investment in Iran’s petroleum projects
Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian urged Korean companies to participate in Iran’s new power plant projects including plans for making the country’s power grid smart, Mehr News wrote on Monday. After meeting with Korean MOTIE Minister Joo Hyunghwan, Chitchian said the two counties have had extensive history in cooperation in economic, cultural, and trade relations and can further develop such ties post-sanctions. He said Korea has demonstrated high capabilities in water and power sectors, and can cooperate with the Islamic Republic that has planned to develop its power generation capacity by 50,000 MW in ten years. Part of this power generation increase plan, explained the minister, is shutting down aging power plants which should be replaced with new ones, and the other part is to generate new power generation capacities. Chitchian also said the ministry welcomes Korean participation in plans for renovating and improving performance of existing plants.
Increasing Iran’s power transmission capacity from 400 Kilovolts to 765 kilovolts was another priority of the Ministry of Energy for which, Chitchian said Iran seeks foreign participation. “Currently, five new tenders are on the agenda for establishing 400 transmission and super-distribution posts along with technology transfer for building GIS post,” he said. On water sector, Chitchian said a Korean company is already involved in water distribution management in Bushehr and Shiraz cities, and said Korean companies can also participate in dam construction, seawater desalination, water and wastewater treatment plants and hydroelectric power plants.
After meeting with Korean MOTIE Minister Joo Hyunghwan in Tehran, Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh told reporters that the two countries have agreed to increase the supply of Iranian crude oil to this Asian country twofold. He said Korea currently takes about 100,000 bpd of Iranian oil, which is expected to increase by at least two times.
Zangeneh confirmed that during the years of sanctions, Korean contractors were undertaking several petroleum sector projects in Iran and added that there are “many”
potential areas of cooperation between the two countries in this industry post-sanctions.
He said he has encouraged the Korean companies to get engaged in investment and project finance along with the contract works they used to undertake in this industry under sanctions. Zangeneh said investment in LNG (liquefied natural gas), petrochemical, and refining and distribution projects were proposed to the Korean companies as new areas of cooperation. “Iran considers South Korea as an important Asian partner and this country can be a good customer for Iran in crude oil and even LNG,” said Zangeneh.
Zangeneh also said Iran’s exports of crude oil and condensates in the last Persian month amounted to 1.750 million bpd, indicating an increase of 400,000 bpd compared to the similar month of the last year.
Iran News Brief
An update of Iran’s
Economic and Energy News 2 March 2016
A brief newsletter on
- Reviewing Iran’s petroleum and energy developments,
- Giving an update on the latest domestic economic
developments;
- Provide an update on the country’s interactions with the world in post-sanctions era
Korea provides $5 billion in finance to fund Iran’s
infrastructure projects
The vice minister of Road & Urban Development for International Affairs said Korea will provide up to $5 billion in finance for Iranian infrastructure projects and said this country has also shown interest in building hospitals and tourist centers in Iran. According to IRNA, Asghar Fakhrieh-Kashan said during the upcoming visit of Korean President to Iran, the two sides are scheduled to conclude two MoUs on (1) cooperation between the Iranian Construction & Development of Transport Infrastructures Company (CDTIC) and Hyundai on a BLT/BOT investment in Chabahar-Zahedan railway route and (2)cooperation in the shipping sector. Fakhrieh-Kashan said Korea has also shown interest in building roads and railroad cars as well as cooperation in maritime and airport sectors. Fakhrieh-Kashan said Iran has proposed Korean involvement in Bandar-Abbas-Sarakhs corridor projects on which, they are supposed to conduct feasibility studies. The vide Road minister also said the two sides discussed cooperation in reconstruction of old towns and old parts of the Iranian cities as well as on developing the country’s urban transport system.
Iran-Singapore
Iran and Singapore conclude MoU on developing economic cooperation
Iran’s Minister of Economic Affairs & Finance Ali Tayyebnia and Singaporean Minister of Industry & Trade S Iswaran concluded an MoU on mutual protection and encouragement of investment, Mehr News Agency wrote on Monday. Tayyebnia said Iran’s geographic position as the “most powerful and stable country in the region” and its location in a path linking the east, west, north and south, along with Singaporean strategic position in East Asia paves the ground for the realization of an unprecedented cooperation in the region between the two countries. S ISwaran said one of the purposes of his visit to Iran is identifying investment opportunities and cooperation, especially in the fields of petrochemical, shipping, energy and transportation.
On the sidelines of the meeting between Iran’s Minister of Labor, Cooperative & Social Welfare and Singaporean Minister of Industry & Trade S Iswaran on Monday, an MoU was concluded on shipping cooperation, IRNA wrote. The agreement was concluded between the managing director of Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line (IRISL) and the president of Singaporean Business Federation. The Singaporean minister also showed his country’s interest to help building tourism infrastructure for the Islamic Republic.
Iran and Switzerland develop aviation service cooperation
The adviser of the head of Iranian Civil Aviation Organization confirmed that senior executive directors of Swiss Air met with the Ali Abed-Zadeh, the head of the CAO during the visit of this country’s president to Iran this week. According to Mehr News, Reza Jafarzadeh said Swiss Air’s senior executive director as well as the head of the airport service of this airliner held discussions with CAO officials on airport passenger handling affairs.
Iran pushing forward with plans to ramp up oil output
In an interview with CNN in Tehran on Feb 29th, Deputy Petroleum Minister for International Affairs Amir-Hossein Zamani-Nia said Iran is not the cause of the oil market oversupply and plummeting price turmoil, and underscored that the Islamic Republic is determined to push forward plans to pump up an additional one million bpd into the market. "We want to increase our production to the level we used to produce prior to the sanctions," Zamani- Nia said. "And at that time, then we can get together and discuss and strategize for the future." he made it clear that Iran considers the onus to be on other countries to tackle the supply glut, and said "We hope that they [OPEC] can get together to decrease their production." The deputy Petroleum minster also underscored that the country doesn't need foreign investment to ramp up its production by one million barrels per day, but it is interested in overseas funding to help finance longer-term increases. "We have no doubt that we can attract at least $40 billion to $45 billion per year investment," he said.
