Iran allocates $10bln to oil projects

More than $10 billion in funds from domestic sources were allocated to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) projects in the first half of the current Iranian year (started March 21).NIOC Director for Integrative Planning Abdolmohammad Delpairsh said that the funds were procured from finance agreements, Central Bank of Iran, sale of rials and hard currency participation bonds, NIOC financial resources and buy-back contracts. He noted that NIOC needs $30 billion in the current year, adding the process of attracting financial resources is expected to be speeded up in the coming months. Meanwhile, Deputy Oil Minister Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr said that thanks to strategies adopted by the Oil Ministry, reliable financial resources will be made available to complete Persian Gulf Star Refinery. He said that a sum of $1 billion is expected to be allocated for continuing the construction of the refinery. Persian Gulf Star refinery, which is under construction in the Southern city of Bandar-Abbas, is presently 43 percent complete. The refinery requires a feedstock of 360,000 barrels of gas condensates daily, and on completion its daily production will include 35 million liters of 95-octane gasoline, 2 million liters of liquefied gas, 13 million liters of gas oil, 3 million liters of light jet fuel, and 130 million liters of sulphur. Once operational, the refinery will produce 55 million liters of various major products. It is defined in three phases and its first phase with a daily production capacity of 12 million liters of gasoline and 6 million liters of gas oil will go on stream next year. The Persian Gulf Star will be the first of Iran's planned new refineries. Iran seeks to build seven new refineries at a total cost of $25.8 billion. Other planned facilities are Pars, Anahita, Hormoz, Khuzestan, Caspian and Shahriyar. Earlier in September, NIOC's Managing Director Ahmad Qalebani said the company plans to absorb $25 billion in investment for oil industry development. He added the sales of participation bonds will provide more than $8 billion of the said figure. In the same period, Oil Minister Rostam Qasmei also announced that an investment package of $50 billion has been devised for commissioning two new phases in the South Pars gas field. He said that a major part of the funds required for implementation of the South Pars projects has been secured so far.