MP Calls for Prioritizing Joint Fields' Development

EghtesadOnline: Tehran needs to step up efforts to raise production from joint oil and gas fields and attract foreign investment in the key petroleum industry, said the spokesperson for the Majlis Energy Commission.

News ID: ۷۴۱۷۶۵

28 May 2017

"We need to shift our focus to speeding up the development of shared oil and gas fields. Delays in attracting foreign technology and investment cost us a great deal in revenues," Hossein Amiri Khamkani was quoted as saying by ISNA on Saturday.

The official made the statement following deals signed between the US and Saudi Arabia this week that entail spending billions of dollars on the kingdom's oil and gas industry.

“We do not know much about what is going on behind these agreements, but it’s to the benefit of Saudi Arabia to keep sticking to OPEC production cuts,” Financial Tribune quoted Amiri Khamkani as saying.

OPEC and some non-OPEC countries on Thursday extended an agreement to cut crude supplies by a combined 1.8 million barrels daily from the first half of this year to March 2018.

According to reports, during US President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia this week, Saudi Aramco, the country's state oil giant, signed some $50 billion worth of deals with American companies, many of which envisage investments in the digitalization of Aramco’s business, offshore and onshore rig development as well as oilfield services.

The flurry of US deals with Aramco comes as the Saudi oil giant is preparing to launch what is expected to be the world’s biggest initial public offering, in which Saudi Arabia plans to sell 5% of its national oil company, listing it on one or more international markets.

The Saudi Arabian Oil Company, known as Aramco, is reportedly the world's largest oil and gas company. It announced last week that it plans to spend $18 billion in the next five years to expand its operations in the Americas, focusing on its US oil refining subsidiary Motiva Enterprises.