Iran Seeks $100-B To Develop Energy Resources
Iran needs $100-B to rebuild its natural gas industry and met with European energy giants as an end to 30 yrs of international sanctions looms.
“We welcome and appreciate investment by companies; we welcome new technology,” Azizollah Ramazani, international affairs director at National Iranian Gas Co., said in a recent interview in Paris. “During the last 18 months we have had many discussions with foreign companies.”
While commodity markets are focused on a return of Iranian crude oil, the importance of natural gas in the longer term was underlined last Wednesday as BP Plc data showed that Iran held its position as the nation with the largest proven reserves of the energy component.
Deputy Oil Minister Hamid Reza Araghi met with international companies at the World Gas Conference last week, Mr. Ramazani said, adding that 50% of the $100 -B that Iran requires will need to come from foreign producers.
“In Paris, we met a lot of companies and they were very eager to have negotiations,” primarily from Europe, Mr. Ramazani said on 3 June.
If a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program is reached by the 30 June deadline and sanctions lifted, Iran plans to increase natural gas exports sevenfold to 200-M cubic meters a day in four years, said Mr. Ramazani. It wants to raise production to 1.2-M cubic meters a day in five years, from 800-M now, he said.
That would add to new supplies arriving from the US and Australia later this year, and East Africa by the end of the decade. That supply will keep natural gas prices in check for many years.
Iran has the room to increase production, it has slightly larger reserves than Russia, but it produced less than one-third of the natural gas in 2014, BP data show.
Selling natural gas abroad will be more challenging. Iran has just one half-built LNG export plant, giving few quick routes to export.
Iran has its eyes on a longer-term prize and sees natural gas as key for nations seeking both cheaper and cleaner energy.
“Natural gas will be the main fuel in the next 20 to 30 years,” Mr. Ramazani said. “Coal will be replaced by natural gas and natural gas will be the second most used fuel after crude oil.”
By Reza Hashami, CEO, Global Modern Insurance, Inc.
Paul Ebeling, Editor
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