TEHRAN – The cabinet has approved a new resolution proposed by the Oil Ministry to add a note to Article (17) of the executive law on supporting the development of downstream oil and gas condensate sectors in order to allow changing the license of refinery projects to petro-refinery ones.

As reported by Shana, the mentioned resolution was approved in a cabinet meeting headed by President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday.

Based on the mentioned resolution, the contractors implementing refinery projects across the country can request to change their legal project license into petro-refinery after receiving proof of financial capability and approval of their development plan by the Oil Ministry.

Increasing the country’s petro-refining capacity has recently become a hot topic among Iran’s top research institutions and research centers as a key defense mechanism against the impacts of the U.S. sanctions on the country’s oil industry.

Experts and analysts argue that in addition to generating more revenue, the conversion of crude oil to oil products will have many other benefits including creating new job opportunities, economic prosperity, and reviving other industries. And most importantly, it will lead to a stronger economy that could easily withstand U.S. pressures.

Based on the national budget bill for the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21), Oil Ministry has been authorized to use various resources including the private sector and foreign investments to construct petro-refineries with a total capacity of 300,000 barrels per day across the country.

The decision in this regard was announced during a Parliament’s (Majlis) open session in early March.

The ministry is also allowed to barter crude oil for paying the contractors of the mentioned project.

Earlier in January, Oil Minister Javad Oji said some major domestic banks are going to form a consortium with a total investment capacity of four billion dollars to implement petro-refinery projects across the country.

“A large part of the financial resources required for the implementation of the country's oil projects will be provided with the support of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, and this includes the financial resources needed for the refining sector as well,” Oji said.

EF/MA