TEHRAN – Iranian Oil Ministry has signed 12 deals worth $34 million with various knowledge-based companies over the past year, IRNA reported.

As reported, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) with six deals valued at $15 million has had the most deals signed with the country’s knowledge-based companies.

The value of the contracts signed over the past year with knowledge-based companies has increased by 110 percent compared to the preceding 12 months.

Iranian Oil Ministry has so far inked a total of 51 deals valued at $68 million with 40 knowledge-based companies for the first-time production of equipment and items needed in the oil ministry.

The production of the mentioned items and equipment, which have been imported into the country so far, is going to save the country $305 million.

The ministry plans to sign 20 more contracts worth $135 million with knowledge-based companies in the current year and the next Iranian calendar year (ends in late March 2025).

Back in May, NIOC Head Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr said the company signed 170 deals and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with knowledge-based firms on the sidelines of the 27th International Oil, Gas, Refining, and Petrochemical Exhibition of Iran (Iran Oil Show 2023).

According to Khojasteh-Mehr, the mentioned documents included 120 MOUs and 50 deals, Shana reported.

Referring to the slogan of this year’s exhibition, which is "oil industry, knowledge-based production, and optimal consumption", the official added: “We have had good meetings with the Vice Presidency for Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy in order to solve upstream issues and challenges related to oil and gas fields.”

“I hope that at the end of this exhibition, we will witness the finalization of these contracts, and next year, we unveil the products of these [knowledge-based] companies at the exhibition, and this will be the most important achievement,” he added.

Iran Oil Show 2023 kicked off in a ceremony in the Iranian capital Tehran on May 17 and was wrapped up on May 20.

In addition to the Iranian firms, some 200 companies from 13 countries took part in this year’s exhibition.

EF/MA