The decree was issued on Sunday, March 31, 2019, replacing Habibollah Bitaraf with Mohammad Zadeh.

By entrusting Mr. Mohammad Zadeh with the post, Mr. Zangeneh delegated a number of tasks to his new research deputy including developing technological relations with universities and research centers in the country, deepening and developing domestic manufacturing of parts and items used in the petroleum industry, exerting efforts to enhance national contracting capacities in the upstream sector, and updating the systems used for implementing oil industry projects and commissioning of the plans.