Conditions favorable for boosting Iran-Gazprom cooperation
Print Date : Sunday, October 21, 2007

TEHRAN (PIN) – Oil minister’s deputy for international affairs here
Saturday termed current conditions as satisfactory for expansion of
cooperation between Iran and Gazprom as well as other oil and gas
companies of Russia and Caspian Sea littoral states.

Hossein Noqrekar-Shirazi pointed to the recent meetings of Russian
company Gazprom officials with Iranian oil officials and added, `Given
appropriate atmosphere created by the summit of Caspian Sea littoral
states in Tehran and the first visit of Gazprom officials’ to Iran,
the sides have explored avenues for bilateral and multilateral
cooperation.’

According to the official, the parties reviewed the already defined
cooperation and enlisted their future cooperation.

`Cooperation revolves around oil and gas projects and development of
refineries, pipelines, and phases of South Pars field,’ said the
deputy oil minister.

National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) and Gazprom would form working groups
in the near future, said Noqrekar-Shirazi, adding the working groups
had already helped the two sides reach agreement in the gas sector in
general and liquefied natural gas (LNG) proposed by Gazprom in
particular.

Last Wednesday, Gazprom officials and Iran’s Acting Oil Minister
Gholamhossein Nozari discussed reinforcement of cooperation.

Gazprom said it was still positive about joint project between Russia,
Iran, and Armenia to construct an oil refinery in Armenia.

Gazprom Neft – the oil arm of Russian energy company Gazprom =80′ is
reportedly considering an investment of $1.7 billion to build the
joint oil refinery, which will process oil pumped from Tabriz in
northern Iran, `The Messenger’ reported.

Gazprom officials said it would process 5-6 million tons of oil
annually. Some would be used by Armenia; most would be shipped back
to Iran.

Valery Golubev, head of Gazprom’s Investment and Construction
Department, commented that the project was still in the offing but an
appropriate 400-hectare site for the refinery had not yet been found.

Some Russian commentators suggest the project was motivated by
political rather than financial interests, as usually the most
economically productive location for an oil refinery was near a major
pipeline route or at a seaport.

However, Gazprom replied that with effective management, the refinery
could be economically profitable and may offer competition for
Azerbaijan, the main oil exporter in the South Caucasus.

However, Regnum quoted Gobulev as saying, `Building an oil refinery in
Armenia is interesting for Gazprom from the geopolitical point of
view.’