Iran to form consortiums to exploit joint oil fields

TEHRAN, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said Thursday the private sector should form "huge oil consortiums " to finance energy projects in the country and to exploit joint oil fields, the English language satellite Press TV reported.

"The Oil Ministry has no plan to downsize its projects and the oil industries' contractors should expand their activities," Qasemi was quoted as saying.

Qasemi said that "in the near future many oil projects will be carried out in the joint fields (with neighboring countries), so the acceleration of the formation of oil consortiums is necessary, " when addressing a gathering of oil industry manufacturers, contractors and consultant engineers in Tehran on Thursday, according to the report.

Iran would invest 50 billion U.S. dollars in the oil sector every year which is 2.5 times the annual developmental budget, the minister said, adding that "a large part of it would be provided by selling bonds both in rials and foreign currency."

Qasemi said Iranian manufacturers and contractors measure up to their Korean and Chinese counterparts, but they had problems with project schedule due to low funds, said the report.

Earlier this month, Managing Director of Iranian Central Oil Fields Company Mehdi Fakour said Iran was prepared to sign an agreement with Iraq to develop joint oil fields in the border areas.

Fakour said Iran was studying the details of the agreement that, if signed, would help the two neighboring states increase their crude output.

According to Press TV, the two countries have 23 joint oil fields in the border regions and earlier this year, Tehran and Baghdad agreed to establish joint expert committees to finalize technical and financial details of a deal that aimed at the development of the joint oil fields.