The MOU was signed by NIOC Head Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr and Vitaly Markelov, deputy chairman of the Gazprom management committee, in an online ceremony today.
The development of Kish and North Pars gas fields, increasing the recovery factor of South Pars field, development of 6 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 NIOC Head said:
- The National Iranian Oil Company does not ignore any investment opportunity
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 Teheran 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
Currently, we have implemented projects worth $4 billion 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 MoU for the development of oil & gas fields, gas pipelines, technology development, and transfer, etc
Iran has the world's 2nd-largest gas reserves after Russia, but U.S. sanctions have prevented access to extraction technology and slowed development of gas exports.
The relations between Iran and Russia have been put on a new path with the support of President Raisi and Putin, and the 2 countries are taking new strategic measures to expand relations at all economic and political levels.
To read the news in Russian
