Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 7
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran has signed seven memorandums of understanding with Japanese, Chinese and South Korean firms to build, renovate or develop refineries in Iran, the Islamic Republic’s Deputy Oil Minister Abbas Kazemi said.
Kazemi, who heads the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), said projects will be implemented under the deals for reducing fuel oil production in various refineries in the country, Mehr news agency reported Sept. 7.
Preliminary agreements have been signed with Japanese firms Marubeni and Chiyoda to carry out the project in the Bandar Abbas refinery, located in southern Iran, he said, adding that South Korea’s SK Group also will implement a similar project at the Tabriz Refinery.
He further said that another deal was signed with South Korea’s Daelim for developing and improving the production processes in Isfahan refinery as well as elimination of fuel oil output in the refinery.
Kazemi added that talks have been held with Japanese JGC engineering company for decreasing fuel oil production capacity in Tehran Refinery, while a memorandum was signed with Nippon Oil for implementation of an oil refinery project in Tabriz.
The Iranian official also said talks have been held with a Chinese firm for increasing production capacity of Abadan oil refinery.
Kazemi underlined that the Japanese firms have been more active than other Asian companies in implementation of refinery projects in Iran.
Iran plans to decrease the share of fuel oil production from the total refining capacity which is about 27 percent at the moment.
Kazemi said in December 2015 that production of fuel oil in Iran will decrease to 10 percent of the total refining capacity by 2025.
Iran is the world's third major fuel oil producer, which indicates low performance of the country's refineries.
