TEHRAN, Dec 2 (Bernama) — Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi warned the world powers that Iran may stop exporting crude oil if they continue economic sanctions on the country, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported.
“Iran is one of the world’s major oil producers and any cut in Iran’s supply of crude will, undoubtedly, cause prices to surge,” Mirkazemi told a press conference here Tuesday.
Iran is aiming for annual investment of at least US$35 billion in its upstream oil and gas sectors over the next five years from foreign and domestic sources, the Mehr news agency reported Mirkazemi as saying.
“For the next five-year socio-economic development plan (2010-2015), the target is at least US$35 billion per year, both in foreign and local investment, for the upstream section of the oil and gas industry,” he said.
In the past four years, the sector had attracted about US$10 billion in foreign investment each year, he said, describing this figure as “very high”, in part due to the high oil price.
As the world’s fifth-largest crude exporter, Iran needs to attract foreign capital and know-how to help develop its vast energy resources.
Western firms are increasingly wary of investing in Iran due to the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear programme. But Iran is still drawing interest from Indian, Chinese and other Asian firms, seen as less susceptible to international pressures.
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