Domestic, foreign investors can purchase shares of Iran's oil refineries: official

TEHRAN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Domestic and foreign investors can purchase the shares of Iran's oil refineries, local satellite Press TV quoted a senior oil official as saying on Monday.

Iran plans to privatize seven of its oil refineries by the end of the Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2012), Press TV quoted Alireza Zeighami, managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, as saying.

Zeighami said Sunday that Isfahan, Bandar Abbas, Tabriz, Shiraz, Kermanshah, Lavan, and Tehran (Shahid Tondgouyan) oil refineries will be transferred to the private sector, while Abadan and Arak ( Imam Khomeini) oil refineries will remain in government control, according to Press TV.

Zeighami, also the Iranian deputy oil minister, said that domestic and foreign investors can purchase the shares of the refineries through the Privatization Organization of Iran.

The Islamic Republic also plans to build several new refineries and upgrade a number of existing ones, he said.