Baku, Azerbaijan, April 3
By Gazenfer Hamidov – Trend:
Russia’s Zarubezhneft would face no banking problem in transferring money into Iran for investment in oil sector, Gholamreza Manouchehri, deputy head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for development and engineering affairs, said.
There are banks in Russia, which have relations with Iran and the Russian oil firm can use the banks for money transfer, Manouchehri said, Mehr news agency reported April 3.
The NIOC signed a deal with Zarubezhneft in to develop Aban and Paydar-e Gharb oil fields in the west of Iran, both jointly owned by Iraq.
The 10-year agreement is intended to boost the production of the fields to 48,000 barrels per day from the current level of 36,000.
Zarubezhneft has an 80 percent share in the deal and its Iranian partner, Dana Energy, the remaining 20 percent.
The cost of developing the fields is estimated at $674 million, with an additional $68 million in indirect costs.
The fields are expected to produce 67 million barrels of oil during the ten years.
Manouchehri said that the Russian company can even use European banks to transfer the needed capital to Iran for the fields’ development.
However, he added that the process details must be discussed in the future, but in general the company would not face serious challenges regarding the banking issues.
Regarding the 20 percent investment share of the Iranian side for the project, Manouchehri said that the finance can be provided through loan from the National Development Fund of Iran or Iranian banks.
He underlined that the oil ministry’s assets would not be allocated for the deal’s finance.
