According to Young Journalists Club, Hoshang Fallahtian answered the following questions on Saturday evening (January 7) in a televised interview:

What is Iran's position in the field of oil and gas?

Iran is one of the oil-rich and gas-rich countries in the world and ranks first in the world in terms of the capacity of underground gas and oil resources. With the efforts of our colleagues in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry, we have the ability to produce 4.1 million barrels of crude oil per day. The refining sector has a processing capacity of 2.2 mbd.

So far, we have had a production record of more than one billion cubic meters per day, we have a large amount of underground oil and gas reserves, and in this situation, we have kept this industry afloat without relying on outsiders. In the field of engineering services, repairs and construction of refineries and petro-refineries, we provide services in all parts of the world, but in addition to the huge volume of production, we are not good consumers, energy consumption in our country is twice the world average, so we have to consider optimization of energy consumption.

Currently, we produce 850 mcm of gas daily in the country, of which 650 mcm are consumed in the household, commercial and administrative sectors. A two-degree reduction in the temperature of houses in the whole country is equivalent to the two-phase production gas in a refinery in Asalouye, southern Iran.

The country needs to review its policies in the field of production and consumption; what is the most important challenge in the field of oil and gas production in the country?

Currently, the country is developing, so that we cannot only produce oil and gas to meet our needs, but we can also export and meet the needs of industrial development projects. The Ministry of Petroleum has formulated various plans to increase oil production, so that according to the existing reserves and creating wealth for the country, while increasing oil production from the current 3.8 million barrels in the seventh plan, its exports will also increase.

In the field of gas, even though we are a large producer, we must increase gas production according to the country's needs. For this purpose, $80 billion should be invested in the gas field over the next eight years to increase gas production from the current record of 1 bcm/d to the threshold of 1.5 bcm/d. For this purpose, we must bring domestic and foreign capital to the field. For example, now we have transferred many parts of investments to major economic holdings and we hope to face an increase in gas production in the next five years. Currently, $100 billion worth of contracts are planned with domestic and foreign companies, and we have had $40 billion worth of memorandums of understanding in the foreign sector, of which more than $5 billion have been signed.

During what period of time are these negotiations supposed to come to an end?

For the implementation of any project in the industry, three main pillars including financing, design engineering and contractor are needed. Currently, many projects are in the final stages and we hope that many of these projects will be implemented in the next year and the gas production figures will increase in the next five years.

In order to increase oil production, various scenarios have been predicted: in one scenario, the amount of production is supposed to increase from 3.8 mbd to over 4.2 mbd. By doing more work, the amount of oil production may even exceed the limit of 4.5 mbd. Each of the scenarios requires different financial resources, which should be seen according to the conditions.