Iranian president's nominee for oil minister vows to raise output, attract foreign investment
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s pick for oil minister says he will increase the country's crude oil output while seeking to attract more foreign investment to carry out new development projects.
Mohesen Paknejad told the Iranian parliament on Tuesday that oil production in Iran will increase by 0.4 million barrels per day (bpd) by March 2025 if he wins the parliament’s vote of confidence to become oil minister.
Iran currently pumps an average of 3.6 million bpd of oil, according to latest government figures and international shipping data, despite sanctions imposed by the US that restrict oil exports from the country.
Paknejad said that the planned rise in Iranian oil output will take place in current oilfields and through launching new wells or carrying out repairs on the existing ones.
He said, however, that development plans in Iran’s oil and gas industry would need new financial resources which he said would be secured through foreign investment and tapping the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
Paknejad has served in various roles in the Iranian Oil Ministry over the past decades, including in positions directly linked to oil exports. He was deputy for supervising hydrocarbon resources from 2018 to 2021 under former Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh.
“We have to admit that our situation is not like before and our access to resources has been reduced and the Oil Ministry’s resources will hardly be enough to carry out development,” he said in a speech to the parliament.
On exports and swap of natural gas, Paknejad said he will continue projects launched by the outgoing government in Iran which seeks increased volumes of gas trade with other countries, including with Russia.
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