TEHRAN – Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji said on Monday that his ministry is seriously following the plans for funding the oil industry’s development projects, Shana reported.

Speaking on national TV, Oji noted that recent studies show that over $160 billion of investment is required to complete the country’s oil industry development projects over the next eight years.

“Planning has been done to provide this figure, and considering the current progress [in our plans] there will be no problem in this regard,” he said.

The official noted that the current government has so far attracted over $80 billion for the country’s oil and gas projects and an agreement worth $40 billion has also been signed with Russia’s Gazprom.

Our priority is developing joint oil and gas fields, he said, adding: “In the downstream sector, we reached an agreement with Gazprom to build gas transmission and export pipelines to countries such as Oman and Pakistan.”

“We have also signed 28 contracts with a total value of over one billion dollars for collecting flare gas, most of which have been signed with private companies that will use the collected gas as payment,” Oji added.

EF/MA