Speaking in a meeting attended by members of his department’s Council of Deputies on Saturday, Mohammad Dehqan underlined that oil platforms and refineries designed and launched by Iranian experts in the zone reveal that no power can disrupt the Iranian people’s will to make progress.

The vice president, who has recently paid a visit to Assaluyeh and Pars Special Economic Energy Zone in southern Iran, added oil and gas industry employees are shouldering the responsibility of operating the existing installations and systems in Assaluyeh amid brutal sanctions.

During his visit to Assaluyeh, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said skilled human resources, who have managed to develop the industry without foreign companies and experts, are the main wealth of this zone and not oil and gas, recalled the official.

He said around $90 billion investment made in this sector over the past two decades is the outcome of the setup of National Development Fund of Iran (NDFI) on the Leader’s initiative.

Dehqan expressed his gratitude to the Oil Ministry for implementing projects to reduce gas flaring in 12 refineries of the South Pars field, concluding that emission of thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) will be cut annually when the projects are completed.