Iran is drafting plans to attract as much as $145 billion domestic and foreign investments in its oil industry over the next eight years.
“We plan to invest $145 billion in the development of the upstream and downstream oil industry over the next four to eight years, hence I welcome the presence of domestic and foreign investors in the industry,” Owji, the new oil minister, said during a meeting with executives from China’s oil giant Sinopec.
Iran is also working to boost cooperation with Chinese companies, the minister added.
Earlier this month, Owji met with a top official from the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in Tehran to discuss cooperation and expansion of bilateral relations.
The new Iranian president and administration continue to work on close ties with China, which were forged during the previous administration.
China is Iran’s biggest trade partner and one of the very few countries still importing some crude oil from Iran despite the US sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s oil exports and oil industry.
China has always said it opposes the “unilateral” US sanctions against oil producers and continues to buy crude, especially from Iran. Iran’s oil sales to China remain the key remaining revenue stream for the Islamic Republic. China is Iran’s top crude oil customer and the only customer that currently dares skirt existing American sanctions on Iranian oil exports.
Iran is now looking to increase oil production from all the fields in its massive West Karoun cluster, potentially adding 1 million barrels per day (bpd) to its output.
In July, the Islamic Republic also officially opened its new oil export terminal, the Jask Oil Terminal on the Sea of Oman outside the Strait of Hormuz, which is built to allow Iran to ship crude oil without the need for tankers traveling through the world’s most strategic oil chokepoint.
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