Iran Rejects Russian, Saudi Plan To Raise Oil Output, Rein In Prices

- Iran has rejected a plan by Russia and Saudi Arabia to increase oil production at a meeting of the OPEC oil cartel this week in response to consumer disgruntlement with rising prices. "I don't believe at this meeting we can reach agreement," Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told reporters after arriving in Vienna, where OPEC is headquartered, on June 19. - 6/20/18

European Refineries Curtailing Oil Purchases From Iran

- Following the decision of U.S. President Donald Trump to leave the nuclear deal with Iran, European refineries have started to reduce purchases of Iranian oil. On May 8, Trump announced that his administration was withdrawing from the deal and re-imposing the old sanctions on Tehran. - 6/7/18

Iran, Iraq start strategic oil swap scheme

- Iran says it has started exchanging crude oil with Iraq through a strategic project which is believed to open a new route for Baghdad to export its oil. Iran's Ministry of Petroleum announced that road tankers carrying oil from Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk had crossed Iran's border and were already delivering oil to reserves in the western Province of Ilam. - 6/4/18

Major Russian, Indian Energy Firms Reportedly Moving To Pull Out Of Iran

- The threat of U.S. sanctions has prompted Russian oil giant Lukoil to put its plans to develop projects in Iran on hold while the Indian company that owns the world's largest oil refining complex plans to stop buying oil from Iran, Reuters reported on May 30. -RFE/RL - 5/31/18

Iran Signs Oil Deal With British Group, First Since U.S. Resumed Sanctions

- Iran has signed an agreement with a British consortium to develop an oil field, in the first such deal with a Western firm since Washington announced it would exit the nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on Iran. The National Iranian South Oil Company signed an agreement with the London-based Pergas consortium to produce 655 million barrels of oil from the Keranj field in southwestern Iran in the next 10 years, Iran's Oil Ministry said on May 17 through its Shana news service. - 5/18/18

Traders Look To Replace Iranian Crude Oil As Sanctions Loom Again

- Buyers of Iran's crude oil are winding down their business with the Islamic Republic after U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and reimpose sanctions. - 5/11/18

China Reassures Tehran On Honoring Nuclear Deal, Buying Iranian Oil

- China has said that it remains committed to Iran's nuclear deal with world powers and assured Tehran that it will continue buying nearly one-third of Iranian oil exports. "We express regret over this decision made by the United States," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. He said that China wanted to "ensure the integrity and sanctity" of a pact that Beijing believes was important for curbing nuclear proliferation and promoting stability in the Middle East. - 5/10/18

TOTAL's Gas Deal Scuttled By U.S. Withdrawal From Iran Nuclear Accords

- Billions of dollars in business deals between Iran and European companies inked after the 2015 nuclear agreement lifted sanctions on the Islamic Republic are now in jeopardy after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement May 8. The U.S. Treasury Department has said it will reinstate restrictions on companies doing business with Iran in the oil and banking sectors after 90 and 180-day grace periods respectively. - 5/10/18

Oil Prices Highest Since 2014 Ahead Of Trump's Iran Decision

- Oil prices surged to their highest levels since November 2014 as investors braced for U.S. President Donald Trump's decision on whether to withdraw from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers. Fears that the United States will reimpose sanctions that were lifted in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear activities in 2016 sent premium crude prices above $70 a barrel in New York trading on May 7 for the first time since November 2014. - 5/8/18

Russia's Rosatom begins work at phase 2 of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant

- Russia has begun "soil stabilization" work on the site of Phase 2 of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in southern Iran, Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom has said. "On 3 May 2018, soil stabilization works under the reactor building of power unit No 2 commenced at Bushehr-2 NPP construction site," the agency said on its website on Thursday. - 5/4/18

Iran Offers Turkmenistan New Gas-Swap Deal To Pakistan

- Iran has made a surprise offer to Turkmenistan that officials in Ashgabat might find difficult to reject. The head the National Iranian Oil Company, Hamidreza Araqi, said on April 29 that Iran was prepared enter into a gas-swap deal that would transfer Turkmen gas to Pakistan. Turkmenistan is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis since the country became independent in late 1991, and the Turkmen government has been desperately seeking new export routes for its major export: natural gas. -Bruce Pannier, RFE/RL - 5/1/18

Blackouts On The Way, Warns Iran's Energy Minister

- Power outages are inevitable next summer across Iran, the country's energy minister has warned. "Since the volume of water behind the dams is significantly lower than usual, if residents do not decrease electricity consumption, power cuts will be inevitable across the country," Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian announced on April 8. - 4/10/18

Russia to invest $50 billion in Iran oil, gas: Official

- Russian investment in developing Iran's oil and gas fields could total more than $50 billion, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov has said. "Energy is the most promising sphere for cooperation between Russia and Iran. Leading Russian oil and gas companies such as Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Rosneft, Lukoil, Zarubezhneft and Tatneft are systemically working on development of fields in Iran. The expected amount of investments is over $50 billion," he told reporters in Moscow Monday. - 4/5/18

Natural gas: An underrated driver of Saudi hostility towards Iran and Qatar

- Debilitating hostility between Saudi Arabia and Iran is about lots of things, not least who will have the upper hand in a swath of land stretching from Central Asia to the Atlantic coast of Africa. While attention is focused on ensuring that continued containment of Iran ensures that Saudi Arabia has a leg up, geopolitics is but one side of the equation. Natural gas is the other. -James M. Dorsey - 3/28/18

Total says committed to its contract with Iran

- French energy giant Total says it is fully committed to the development of an Iranian gas field, adding the firm will seek a waiver if the US decides to unilaterally pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. - 3/19/18

Iran Signs $4 Billion Oil Deal With Russian Firm

- Iran has signed a $742 million deal with Russian state-owned energy firm Zarubezhneft to boost production at two oil fields in the country's west. Zarubezhneft and Dana Energy, a private Iranian company, will jointly develop the Aban and Paydar fields in Ilam province near the Iraqi border, to boost production from 36,000 to 48,000 barrels of oil per day. - 3/15/18

Iran Stops Flaring Gas Worth Millions Of Dollars

- Iran inaugurated a gas processing complex on Wednesday, February 28, that will help the country to stop flaring gas worth of million of dollars. According to Iranian officials, the complex of Hengam Oilfield in Qeshm island located in southern Iran can process 827 million cubic meters per day of natural gas which was previously flared. - 3/4/18

EU ready to negotiate Iran's joining Southern Gas Corridor initiative

- European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said EU is ready to discuss Iran's joining to the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) with all partners of the project, IRNA reported on Thursday. The Southern Gas Corridor is an initiative of the European Commission for the natural gas supply from Caspian and Middle Eastern regions to Europe. - 2/17/18

Total CEO: Iran's South Pars gas project 'progressing well' despite Trump's threats

- Total's work on the South Pars gas project is well on track despite US threats of new sanctions on Iran, the French oil and gas group's Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne says. Pouyanne told Le Monde newspaper on Tuesday that Total was consulting with French and European authorities over protecting its investments in Iran, in case there was a resumption of sanctions. - 2/7/18

Iran 10-month crude output up 165kbd: Oil Minister

- Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh says the country's petroleum output has increased by 165,000 b/d in the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year which began on March 21 compared to the same period last year. Addressing a press conference here in Tehran on Sunday, the official said Iran's crude exports have also increased by 60,000 b/d in the period year-on-year, Iran's oil ministry website SHANA reported on Sunday. - 2/5/18

Iran wins Energy Globe World Award 2017 in water category

- Iran secured the first place in Energy Globe World Awards 2017 in the category of water here on Tuesday. Beating the other two finalists, the Philippines and Singapore, Iran jointly with Sri Lanka won the event's top prize in the mentioned category. The Energy Globe Award was founded in 1999 by the Austrian energy pioneer Wolfgang Neumann and is one of today's most prestigious environmental awards. - 1/19/18

Huge Oil Spill After Iranian Tanker Sinks In East China Sea

- Chinese ships are racing to clean up a massive oil spill after an Iranian tanker sank in the East China Sea. The Sanchi's crew of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis are all believed to have perished in the incident. - 1/16/18

Stricken Iranian Oil Tanker Sinks, 'No Hope' Of Finding Survivors

- A stricken Iranian oil tanker that was burning for more than a week following a collision with a Chinese cargo ship in the East China Sea has sunk after drifting into the waters of Japan's economic exclusion zone. Chinese state television reports that the ship sank shortly after another portion of its cargo "suddenly ignited" at about noon local time on January 14. - 1/14/18

Iran's Vulnerable Energy Supply And The Protests

- Unlike early 2017, when Iran's energy industry started a year full of hope and prospects of potential growth, 2018 has started with different potential risks targeting its energy industry and production growth. Risks abound, particularly the prospect of additional sanctions and domestic instability. -Sara Vakhshouri, LobeLog - 1/10/18

China: Explosion occurs aboard burning Iran oil tanker

- China's Transport Ministry has reported an explosion aboard the Iranian oil tanker that collided with a cargo ship off the Asian country's coast on Saturday. The ministry said in a statement that the explosion occurred at around 13:35 Beijing time on Wednesday after rescue crew tried to spray foam to put out the blaze. - 1/10/18

Iran and the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline

- Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCP) is a project to transport natural gas through a submerged pipeline in the Caspian seabed from Turkmenistan and partly from Kazakhstan to Baku in Azerbaijan and eventually to Europe, circumventing Russia and Iran. Turkmenistan has one of the biggest gas resources in the world, the third biggest after Russia and Iran. -Bahman Aghai Diba - 1/8/18

Iranian Oil Tanker At Risk Of Exploding, 32 Crew Still Missing

- Chinese state media reports that an Iranian oil tanker which caught fire after colliding with a freighter off China's east coast is at risk of exploding and sinking. Personnel from three countries were working on January 8 to find the tanker's 32 missing crew members and contain oil spewing from the blazing wreck. - 1/8/18

Iraq Says Oil Deliveries From Kirkuk To Iran Will Start In January

- Iraq's oil minister says the country will start exporting oil to Iran from its northern Kirkuk oil fields by the end of January. Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on January 7 that about 30,000 barrels per day will be trucked to Iran's Kermanshah refinery in the first set of shipments. The deliveries are to be made under a swap agreement announced in December by both countries. - 1/7/18

32 missing after Iranian oil tanker collides with Chinese cargo ship

- An Iranian oil tanker heading to South Korea, collided with a Chinese cargo ship off the coast of east China on Saturday due to which the tanker's 32 crew members went missing. The Sanchi tanker, registered in Panama, collided with the CF Crystal some 160 nautical miles off the coast near Shanghai, Reuters reported on Sunday citing the Chinese Ministry of Transportation. - 1/7/18

Fire put out at Iran's Rag-Sefid oilfield, after 59 days

- Fire in the well No. 147 of Rag-Sefid offshore oilfield in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan Province was put out at Tuesday's night, Shana news agency reported. A blowout occurred at Rag-Sefid oilfield on October 29. The accident happened when drilling operation was ongoing in depth of 2,403 meters in the well No. 147 of the field. It burned the drilling rig and killed two persons working for the National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC). - 12/28/17

Iran's Rag-Sefid oilfield burning since October 29th despite killing operations

- A blowout occurred at Rag-Sefid offshore oilfield in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province on October 29, 2017. The accident happened when drilling operation was ongoing in depth of 2,403 meters in the well No. 147 of the field. It burned the drilling rig and killed two persons working for the National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC). One week after the blowout, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that the blaze would be brought under control within one and half month, but the well is still burning after 58 days. - 12/26/17

China eyeing take over of Iran gas project if France's Total pulls out

- Speculations are rising that China's leading oil and gas company CNPC could replace French energy giant Total in a key Iranian natural gas project if any new US sanctions against investments in Iran's economic projects forces it to leave the country. Reuters in an exclusive report said CNPC had already started talks with Iran over a share of 30 percent in the project to develop Phase 11 of Iran's South Pars gas field - the world's biggest independent gas field. - 12/15/17

Iran says supplies to Iraq pushed gas exports up 64 percent

- Iran says its exports of natural gas saw a huge rise over a period of five months starting 21 March 201 in what it says was a result of rising supplies to its western neighbor Iraq. Behzad Babazadeh, the director for international affairs of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), was quoted by the domestic media as saying that the country had exported as much as 50 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of gas over the aforementioned period that marks the first five months after the start of the new Iranian calendar year. - 12/13/17

Iran acquires technology to produce nuclear batteries: AEOI advisor

- Iran has acquired the technology to produce nuclear batteries to be used in health and industrial sectors, an advisor to head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says. Asghar Zare'an, who is an advisor to Ali Akbar Salehi, said on Sunday that Iran was the fifth country mastering the technology to produce nuclear batteries after the United States, Russia, France and Britain. - 12/4/17

U.S. firms "main losers" of sanctions: Iran's Oil Minister

- Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said U.S. energy firms are the main losers from the sanctions placed against his country. Speaking at the 173 OPEC meeting in Vienna on Thursday, Zanganeh called U.S.'s policy confusing and self-defeating, CNBC reported. - 12/2/17

Gas Exporting Countries Blast US Use Of Sanctions As Weapon

- Gas exporting countries have condemned the use of sanctions as a weapon against other nations, in an apparent jab at the United States. The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), which has 12 members in the likes of Iran, Russia and Qatar, issued a communique at the end of their summit in Bolivia on Friday. - 11/26/17

Iraq in talks to export Kirkuk oil to Iranian refinery

- Iran and Iraq have reportedly started talks over the shipment of crude oil from the fields around Kirkuk to the Kermanshah refinery inside the Iranian territory. Reports quoted Alaa al-Mussawi, the director of Iraq's state-oil marketer State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), as saying in a statement that the Kermanshah refinery would be supplied with 15,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Kirkuk fields. - 11/8/17

France's Total to comply with any US sanctions on Iran: CEO

- Total says it has opened an office in Washington to coordinate its operations in Iran where the French oil and gas major plans to develop Phase 11 of the giant South Pars gas field. Total was the first Western energy firm to sign a major deal, worth $4.8 billion, with Iran after sanctions were lifted on the Islamic Revolution in 2016 under a nuclear agreement. However, US President Donald Trump's refusal last month to endorse the nuclear agreement with Iran and his threat to levy new sanctions on the country has thrown the future of the deal into doubt. - 11/4/17

Iran starts construction of two new nuclear power plants in Bushehr

- Iran has started the construction of two new nuclear power plants in the southern province of Bushehr in a joint project with Russia's Rosatom energy firm. In an agreement between the senior officials of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and Rosatom, phases two and three of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant will begin supplying electricity to Iran's power grid in 10 years. - 11/2/17

United States blocks Iran from fusion megaproject

- The Iran nuclear deal was meant to usher in a new era of science cooperation between the Islamic republic and other parties to the landmark agreement, which deters the country from pursuing nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief. But nearly 2 years after implementation began, few projects are underway. And Science has learned that the United States has frozen Iran out of a collaboration that the deal expressly brokered: ITER, the multibillion-dollar fusion experiment in France.-Richard Stone, Science Magazine - 11/2/17

Iran Rejects Turkmen Proposal For Gas Shipments To Turkey

- Energy politics around the Caspian Sea breeds complications, as a recent example involving Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia reminds us. Turkmenistan is in a serious bind. The country has the fourth-largest natural gas reserves in the world but currently has only one customer -- China -- at a time when Turkmenistan's economy appears to be spiraling downward. -Bruce Pannier, RFE/RL - 10/31/17

Russia looking into piping gas from Iran to Pakistan, India

- Russia says it is studying a plan to export natural gas to Pakistan and India through Iran in ambitious project that would involve laying an offshore pipeline. Pakistan's Express Tribune newspaper in a report said Russia was proceeding with the project out of concerns that it could lose Europe's gas market as a result of disputes with the United States and the European Union. - 10/31/17

Several killed in Tehran Refinery tower fire

- At least six people died and several wounded in a fire accident at Tehran Refinery south of the Iranian capital. The incident occurred when a group of engineers and technicians who were providing overhaul operations were caught in a blaze at the top of a distillation tower. - 10/28/17

Iran's oil exports to China up 59 percent in September

- The latest market figures show that Iran's exports of crude oil to China in September saw a whopping increase of 59 percent compared to the same period last year. Figures released by Reuters showed that Iran exported as much as 3.22 million tonnes - or 784,000 barrels per day (bpd) - to Asia's largest and world's second top consumer last month. - 10/25/17

Iran says markets unfazed by Trump's threats

- Iran's Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh says global oil markets have remained unfazed by the recent positions of US President Donald Trump against Iran's nuclear deal which the United States and five other states sealed in 2015. - 10/23/17

Warming Uzbek-Iranian Relations Worth Watching

- A recent meeting of officials from Uzbekistan and Iran was a curious event. Central Asia has seen a reshuffling of relations over the past couple years, and improved relations between Tashkent and Tehran is one of the more intriguing developments. -Bruce Pannier - 10/20/17

Total CEO says to move ahead with key Iran project

- French oil and gas major Total says it will try to push ahead with an Iranian gas project if the US decides to impose unilateral sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The announcement was made by Total Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne in an interview with International Oil Daily. - 10/19/17

Iranian Minister Says Ready To Do Business With U.S. Oil Companies

- Iran is ready to do business with American oil companies even though the United States still prohibits them from operating in the country, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has said. "American companies can come to Iran and benefit so [U.S. President Donald Trump] won't be upset," Zanganeh said, according to SHANA, the news site of the Iranian Oil Ministry. - 10/18/17

Norway Defies Trump, Enters 4-Billion-Dollar Deal With Iran

- Norwegian solar company Saga Energy has signed a $4-billion investment deal with Iran just days after US President Donald Trump calls for isolating Tehran. "Norway is fully committed to the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and this is proof that we have taken the opening very seriously, and we will see more investment very soon," AFP quoted Norway's Ambassador to Tehran Lars Nordrum on Tuesday. - 10/18/17

Iran's Gas Exports: Potentials and Challenges

- Although Iran ranks first in the world in terms of natural gas reserves - according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, the country holds around 18 percent of total proven natural gas reserves globally-, when it comes to exports, it has a long way to the top of the list of gas exporting countries. - 10/12/17

Iran, Russia sign Caspian oil exploration deals

- Iran has signed two agreements with Russia's Lukoil to jointly look for hydrocarbon reserves in the southern parts of the Caspian Sea - a groundbreaking move that could have significant economic as well as political outcomes for both Tehran and Moscow. - 10/4/17

Total preparing to do Russia-style Iran funding

- Total has indicated that it plans to use the same solutions it employs for doing business in Russia under US sanctions, for a key gas project in Iran in case Washington reimposes sanctions against the country. Total Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne told The Financial Times that his company had successfully used an alternative basket of foreign currencies in providing funds for the development of a key gas project in Russia which faces US financial restrictions. - 10/3/17

Indians push for undersea gas pipeline from Iran

- With a $7 billion project to pump gas from Iran discarded, a 1,300 km undersea pipeline is finding new proponents in India where they say natural gas from the Persian Gulf can reach at rates less than the price of LNG available in the spot market. The Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (Assocham India) has released the results of its study on "a trans-national deep water gas pipeline from Iran, passing through Oman but by-passing Pakistan," it said. - 9/6/17

Iran Says European Giants Bidding For Development Of Azadegan Oil Field

- Iran says a host of European giants are bidding for the development of its South Azadegan oil field - which was once considered as the world's biggest oil find after it was discovered over 15 years ago. Nouroddin Shahnazizadeh, the managing director of the Petroleum Development and Engineering Company of Iran, told the domestic media that the leading European bidders for the project include Total (France), Shell (UK/Hollande), Eni (Italy), Wintershall (Germany), Rosneft (Russia), OMV (Austria) and Maersk (Denmark). - 8/30/17

Iran, Russia, Turkey mark a new turn with $7B drilling deal

- Turkey's Unit International which signed a drilling deal last week with Russia's state-owned Zarubezhneft and Iran's Ghadir Investment Holding says the contract is worth $7 billion. The drilling in Iran will take place at three oil fields estimated to hold 10 billion barrels of reserves and produce 100,000 barrels per day and a large natural gas field with a production capacity of 75 billion cubic meters per day. - 8/16/17

India cuts Iran oil imports amid Farzad gas field row

- India is making good on its promise to cut crude oil imports from Iran amid the two countries' spat over the development of a gas field in the Persian Gulf. According to new data released on Wednesday, India's purchases of Iranian crude fell 16.3 percent in July from a month ago to 414,900 barrels per day (bpd). - 8/9/17

Iran's oil exports to China to reach record levels

- Speculations are rising that Iran's oil exports to China would rise to the highest levels over the past 11 months in August. Reuters in a report highlighted speculations that the rise in Iran's exports to China would follow a recent decision by the Islamic Republic to cut the prices for its heavy crude oil. - 8/4/17

New pipeline cuts Iran's reliance on Turkmenistan's gas

- Iran has inaugurated a gas pipeline which officials say will dispense with supplies from neighboring Turkmenistan to northern Iranian provinces, especially in the winter when demand spirals out of control. The Damghan-Neka pipeline, the last segment of a trunkline which feeds gas from Iran's giant South Pars field in the Persian Gulf to the Mazandaran province in the Caspian Sea, was inaugurated by Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh on Tuesday. - 8/3/17

Russia's Gazprom, Iran's OIEC sign deal over oil fields

- Russia's Gazprom has signed a cooperation agreement with an Iranian company over the development of two major oil fields in western Iran. The agreement was signed with the Oil Industries' Engineering and Construction (OIEC), Iran's IRNA news agency reported. - 8/1/17

Iran, Iraq reach deal over Kirkuk pipeline

- Iran says it has reached an agreement with Iraq to construct a pipeline that would export crude oil from the northern Iraqi fields of Kirkuk via Iran. The announcement was made by Iran's Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh after a meeting with his visiting Iraqi counterpart Jabbar al-Luaibi. - 7/31/17

Russians set record with Iran oil deals

- The National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) and Russia's Zarubezhneft have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop two oil fields in southwest Iran. The agreement signed in Tehran Monday allows the state-run Russian company to conduct technical surveys on Shadegan and Rag Sefid fields in Khuzestan Province. - 7/18/17

Japanese, Korean firms to fund "Octopus of the Persian Gulf"

- A consortium of South Korean and Japanese companies has signed agreements to fund and implement a chain of condensate refining projects in southern Iran - a project known as the Octopus of the Persian Gulf. The agreements were signed between South Korea's Daelim and Hyundai as well as Japan's Chioda - all partners in the project to construct Siraf refineries in Iran's southern province of Bushehr. - 7/14/17

Iran, EU start first ever joint project on nuclear safety

- Iran and the European Union have launched their first joint project aimed at strengthening bilateral nuclear safety cooperation on the eve of the second anniversary of Tehran's nuclear deal with six world powers. - 7/13/17

International firms negotiate $200B of oil deals in Iran

- Asian and European companies are negotiating participation in Iran's oil and gas development projects which need $200 billion worth of investment, according to Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh. Iran looks to absorb 65% to 70% of this sum from abroad, the minister told Iran's Parliament where he was Tuesday to answer questions about a $5 billion gas deal signed with French giant Total earlier this month. - 7/12/17

Iran Plans First Oil-And-Gas Tenders After Sanctions Easing

- The Iranian government is planning to announce tenders for the exploration of 14 oil-and-gas blocks over the next three months, a top executive at Iran's NIOC state oil company has said. NIOC Deputy Director Rahim Nematollahi told Reuters in Istanbul on July 10 that the tenders would be offered for joint exploration together with NIOC. - 7/10/17

France's Total seeks long-term coop. with Iran: CEO

- Total plans to boost long-term cooperation with Iran in the fields of gas, oil and petrochemicals, the French energy giant CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in a meeting with President Rouhani in Tehran on Monday. The meeting followed the signing ceremony of a $4.5B development deal with France's Total for investment in Phase 11 of South Pars - the world's largest gas field - as envisaged in the new model of oil contracts, dubbed as the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC). - 7/4/17

France's Total seals Iran's biggest gas deal in years

- French energy giant Total signed a multi-billion-dollar gas deal with Iran, the first by a foreign firm in more than a decade. Total's CEO Patrick Pouyanne and Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namadar Zanganeh signed the 20-year deal, which would eventually see the consortium pour $4.8 billion into the project. - 7/3/17

Iran blames high US output for falling oil prices

- Iran has blamed a recent rise in US oil production for the plunge in global prices of crude oil. Iran's Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh told reporters on Wednesday that the US had increased its oil production by 900,000 barrels per day. This, he said, was way beyond what the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had estimated. - 6/25/17

Iran Begins Pipeline Gas Exports To Iraq After Years Of Delay

- Iran has begun exporting natural gas to neighboring Iraq after several years of delays, Iranian state media report. The semiofficial Fars news agency on June 22 said the exports began late the previous day through a pipeline to Baghdad. - 6/23/17

Iran still world's biggest natural gas player

- A new report shows Iran still has the world's largest reserves of natural gas and is closely followed by market rivals Russia and then Qatar. The global energy giant British Petroleum (BP) in its annual report on world energy reserves put Iran's natural gas reserves at 33.5 trillion cubic meters (tcm). - 6/17/17

Iran oil exports to West return to pre-sanction levels: Ground lost to Saudis reclaimed

- Iran's hard-fought mission to recoup its oil market share in the West is almost complete after exports in May came within a whisker of pre-sanction levels. Exports to Europe in the month surged to their highest level since the lifting of sanctions in early 2016 to 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd), Reuters news agency reported, citing sources familiar with Iran's oil exports. - 6/10/17

Iran signs deal with Gazprom over Farzad B gas field: Oil Minister

- Iran says it has signed a basic agreement with Russia's energy giant Gazprom over the development of Farzad B gas field - a project which the country has for long been negotiating with an Indian consortium. The announcement over Farzad B agreement was made by Iran's Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh. - 6/1/17

Sardar-e Jangal gas field in Caspian Sea could bring Iran high-tech

- Caspian Sea, the world's largest inland body of water, was mainly a center of fishing activities and also a marine transportation hub by the middle of the past century. But discovery of the first oil and gas reserves in the world's largest lake in the late 1940s added to its strategic and geopolitical significance. -Mahnaz Abdi - 5/31/17

UAE pays Iran over $4B in gas dues

- Reports say Iran has received over $4 billion from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for purchases of gas condensate made before sanctions were imposed against Iran in 2011. The payments have been made by Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), reported Al Jazeera on its website. - 5/31/17

Iran, Russia seal oil-for-goods barter deal: Report

- Iran has reportedly signed an agreement with Russia under which it will sell crude oil to Russia in exchange for products. The announcement was made by Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, as reported by Russia's RIA and TASS news agencies. - 5/27/17