Omid Shakeri made the remarks Sunday at the institute’s Research and Technology Festival, marking National Research and Technology Week. He said the event was an opportunity to recognize the valuable efforts of oil industry researchers and technology professionals and expressed hope that their work would continue with greater momentum.

Shakeri said that at the start of the current administration, research and academic institutions affiliated with the Oil Ministry — including the research institute, universities, a technology park and a policy studies center — faced serious challenges. At one point, he said, proposals were raised to transfer the Petroleum University of Technology to the Ministry of Science and to dissolve the oil industry’s technology park, accompanied by negative assessments from relevant bodies.

He said those institutions were preserved through decisive action and sustained follow-up by the oil minister, who emphasized keeping them within the oil industry and worked to prevent their weakening or dissolution.

University and Technology Park Reorganized

Shakeri said long-standing issues at the Petroleum University of Technology have been resolved through cooperation with university officials, noting visible improvements in satisfaction among faculty members, students and staff. He added that the risk of dissolving the oil industry’s technology park has also been removed and that the park is now on a stable path, effectively complementing research and technology activities in the sector.

Calling the Oil Industry Research Institute a “shining jewel” of the oil sector, Shakeri said he was proud of its researchers and pledged to do everything possible to further improve conditions at the institute. While acknowledging delays in addressing some faculty and staff demands in previous years, he said the process of resolving those issues has begun in coordination with the Ministry of Science and the institute’s board of trustees, with positive developments expected soon.

He said the Oil Ministry’s expectations of the institute are high not because its performance has been inadequate, but because of confidence in its substantial capabilities. Achieving the goal of making the institute the محور of all technological activities in the oil industry, he said, will require collaboration, collective thinking and innovative solutions from researchers.

Building Trust Among Public and Private Sectors

Shakeri said the institute’s client base has changed with the expansion of privatization in petrochemicals and refineries, resulting in a broad mix of public and private clients. That shift, he said, has made management more complex and underscored the need for an optimized business model in line with the oil minister’s directives for organizing research and technology activities.

He said conditions must be created so that the private sector, universities and tech-based companies place greater trust in the Oil Industry Research Institute, making it the first point of reference for government bodies and oil industry companies seeking technological solutions.

Shakeri also referred to a meeting between cabinet members and Iran’s supreme leader during Government Week, saying the leader stressed the urgent need to upgrade technology in the oil industry. Production methods and tools for oil and gas, he said, have become outdated and must be modernized through new technologies and the use of young, talented specialists to close the gap with other countries.

That emphasis, Shakeri said, increases the responsibility of the RIPI and heightens expectations for it to play a central role in driving a technological leap in the oil sector. He expressed hope that, through unity and cooperation among researchers, the institute and the country’s oil industry would continue to advance.