TEHRAN - A United Engine Corporation (UEC) official says a localization of its products in Iran is one of its purposes.

Alexander Karaoglanov, who headed the delegation to the Iran Oil Show 2017, also said competition in the Iranian oil industry is becoming harder.

“The competition will become even harder,” Karaoglanov, the sales director tells the Tehran Times.

UEC unites all the main Russian companies specializing in design and serial production of gas turbine engines of different applications. One of its priorities of the company is introduction of new technologies according to international standards. 

“Bringing in the Russian export financing is possible in the future equipment delivery and localization projects.” Karaoglanov, who leads the company’s Sales Department Division specialized in “energy and industry programs”, also says UEC considers Iran with its booming oil and gas industry as one of the most “promising future partners”.

Following is the text of the interview with Karaoglanov: 

Question: How do you evaluate the current Iran Oil Show? 

Answer: This is a high-status exhibition which fully corresponds to the UEC's industrial profile. We have been participating in the Iran Oil Show already for 7 years. Certainly, we regard our presence on the Iranian market in general and our participation in this show as very promising.

Q: What is your plan for activity in Iran? Is it about making investment, transfer of technology or any other kind of cooperation?

A: There are three major fields of cooperation with Iran. Firstly, the localization of the production in Iran of the 16 MW gas compressor sets developed by UEC. Secondly, - the energy projects encompassing the construction of the gas turbine power-generating plants for the distributed power generation. Third direction is the construction of the combined-cycle generating plants.  

“The gas transport system of Iran is one of the biggest in the region. Russia also has a huge gas transport network. That is why we fully understand the needs of our Iranian counterparts.”Bringing in the Russian export financing is possible in the future equipment delivery and localization projects. 

Q: In general, what do you think are the upside and what are the downside of activity in the Iranian market?

A: The gas transport system of Iran is one of the biggest in the region. Russia also has a huge gas transport network. That is why we fully understand the needs of our Iranian counterparts. UEC considers Iran with its booming oil & gas industry as one of the most promising future partners in the field of gas compressor and energy equipment. Our gas compressor equipment in its full power range (10 – 25 MW) - as well as the gas turbine units for the underground gas storage facilities – can be used with efficiency in the Iranian gas transport system. 

In Iran we are facing competition from the part of the other producers, which have been on this market for a long time. Our major competitive advantage is the comparatively low cost of the life cycle of our products and the technical innovations that are being used in our modern equipment. 

Q: How do you see the future of Iranian energy market now that the sanctions are lifted against the country?

A: The competition will become even harder, for example, with the European and US companies. But we are ready for this, we are aware of the strong points of our products

Q: How do you see the future of fossil fuels in view of renewable energy resources and the issue of climate change?

A: Anyway the renewable energy will continue to develop, but this doesn’t mean that gas and oil are not needed any more at some point of time. The production of oil and gas will continue along with the developments in the field of the renewable energy.