TEHRAN – Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji said the ministry has started completing 50 projects in the oil industry with a total investment of $47.5 billion to increase the country’s oil and gas output, Shana reported.

Speaking in a meeting with Ahmadreza Dastgheyb, the head of the Supreme Audit Court of Iran, on Tuesday, Oji presented a report on the two-year performance of the Oil Ministry in the 13th government and said the most important issue in the country’s oil and gas industry is investment.

“A country that ranks first in the world in terms of total oil and gas reserves has a good capacity for investment,” Oji said.

According to Oji, one of the positive measures taken by the Oil Ministry in the current government administration has been the increase in investment in the industry, which has been in line with the increase in production in the fields of oil, gas, as well as petroleum and petrochemical products.

Oji pointed to some of the key projects implemented by the ministry to increase production in various fields, saying: “Maintaining production, increasing oil and gas production, boosting joint fields’ output, increasing gas storage, making new discoveries, increasing the country’s oil and gas refining capacity, improving the quality of petroleum products, increasing the production of petrochemical products and increasing the capacity of gas refineries have been among our key projects.”

“So far, we have implemented 132 projects, which were mainly semi-finished projects in the oil industry. In [the Iranian calendar year] 1401 (ended on March 20), 48 projects were put into operation, and this year 67 projects have been put into operation or will be put into operation,” the official said.

“Completion of 50 new projects has started in line with the increase in production, which are worth 47.5 billion dollars. The total investment made in the projects that have been completed or started so far is 76 billion dollars,” he added.

EF/MA

Photo: Oil Minister Javad Oji (R) and Head of the Supreme Audit Court of Iran Ahmadreza Dastgheyb