TEHRAN – National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Russia’s Gazprom to cooperate in oil and gas industry projects valued at about $40 billion, Shana reported.

The MOU was signed by NIOC Head Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr and Vitaly Markelov, deputy chairman of the Gazprom management committee, in an online ceremony on Tuesday.

The development of Kish and North Pars gas fields, increasing the recovery factor of South Pars field, development of six oil fields, swapping gas and petroleum products, completion of LNG projects, construction of gas export pipelines, and cooperation in other scientific and technological areas are among the most important axes of the signed memorandum.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Khojasteh-Mehr said signing the memorandum with Gazprom can be considered one of the biggest foreign investments in the history of Iran's oil industry.

“The National Iranian Oil Company does not ignore any investment opportunity,” the NIOC head said.

He noted that Iran and the Russian Federation are determined to secure and increase strategic cooperation in various fields, saying: “Promotion of economic relations and attracting investment in oil and gas industries is emphasized by President Ebrahim Raisi and fully supported by Oil Minister Javad Oji.”

Referring to the meeting with the senior managers of Gazprom during his recent trip to St. Petersburg, Khojasteh-Mehr said: “Following that visit, Gazprom managers also visited Tehran last week at the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin and we had some constructive negotiations.”

“We hope that after signing this memorandum, technical and economic negotiations will start in the shortest possible time under the framework of the mechanism considered by both sides,” the official added.

The NIOC head further mentioned his company’s plans for attracting $160 billion of investment in the country’s oil and gas industries, saying that this investment is going to be used to increase the country’s oil and gas production.

Currently, we have implemented projects worth four billion dollars with various Russian companies, he said.

Elsewhere in the online ceremony, Markelov pointed to the NIOC as one of the key companies in Iran and said: “The areas of cooperation between us are very broad, and today we are signing a memorandum of understanding for the development of oil and gas fields, gas pipelines, technology development, and transfer, etc.”

The relations between Iran and Russia have been put on a new path with the support of President Raisi and Putin, and the two countries are taking new strategic measures to expand relations at all economic and political levels.

EF/MA

Photo: NIOC Head Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr (R) and Gazprom Deputy Head Vitaly Markelov