Oil Minister: Iran policies based solely on national interests

Tehran, Feb 5, IRNA - Iran's Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh rejected allegations by some opposition media about Iran's contracts with Chinese and Russian companies, saying national interests were the only things that shape Iran's policies. The minister made the remarks on Tuesday while talking to reporters during a press briefing where he elaborated on the achievements of his ministry in the post-revolution era. Zangeneh dismissed certain 'unfounded allegations' that the Ministry of Petroleum is unwilling to work with Russian and Chinese companies. 'Certain claims have just been made and no evidence is available. They say we do not want to work with Russia and China, but where is the document to prove this claim and why,' he asked. The minister noted that Iran has negotiated with the Chinese firms for the Azadegan and Yadavaran Fields, but they are not willing to cooperate due to their own considerations. He said though the ministry was working round the clock to counter the sanctions and circumvent them, it could not reveal the measures taken so far because the US, the Zionist regime and the region's villains will become aware of them, too. Zangeneh went on to point out that 'Thanks to Iran's wise performance, the United States has failed to push our oil exports to zero so far and will surely not be able to do so in the future either.' He said that new refineries of four phases of South Pars Oil Field in southern Iran will become operational within the next few weeks. The refineries of Phases 13, 22, 23 and 24 with a capacity of 110 million cubic meters are ready to be inaugurated by President Hassan Rouhani, the minister said. The new refineries will be provided with two billion cubic meters of gas from offshore rigs and another one billion cubic meter from Phase 14, the minister added. Noting that Iran’s exploitation of the South Pars Gas Field, shared with Qatar, has increased, Zangeneh said that Iran used to produce some 280 million cubic meters of gas a day in 2013 while the figure today amounts to more than 600 million cubic meters daily.