Delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the 14th Khuzestan Specialized Exhibition of Petroleum Industry Equipment Manufacturing, Mohsen Khojastehmehr added, “Totally, $5 billion have been allocated to the projects for capturing associated gases.”

All associated gases will be collected by the end of winter 2026, he pledged.

To that end, the CEO of NIOC continued, the projects at the gas and natural gas liquid (NGL) 3200 plant (the Persian Gulf Hoveyzeh Gas Refinery) and the Persian Gulf Bidboland Gas Refinery have been implemented and the project of the Dehloran NGL 3100 plant is near completion.

The APG collection projects will generate a revenue of $2 billion when completed, Khojastehmehr pointed out.

Elaborating on the southwestern province of Khuzestan, he said the country’s economic and production growth owes to Khuzestan and other oil- and gas-rich provinces.

According to the NIOC chief, 16 provinces of Iran are carrying out oil and gas production operations.

After a period of recession and sanctions, the 13th administration has attached great significance to production growth since it took office in August 2021, said the official, adding, “Production will witness a considerable increase by the end of the [Iranian calendar] year (March 19, 2024).”

The incumbent government has focused on investing in and developing oil and gas fields, particularly joint fields, finding new markets, and increasing oil and gas exports, Khojastehmehr underlined.

The 13th administration must have made up a huge budget deficit inherited from the previous government with the help of oil industry, recalled the NIOC head, adding the industry must have increased its revenue and economic growth and also promoted domestic knowledge-based companies qualitatively and quantitively with the aim of completing the value chain.

Oil export has risen 2.5 times since the 13th administration took over, he mentioned.

$4b oil, gas contracts

The 13th administration has signed contracts worth $4 billion to develop oil and gas fields, said Khojastehmehr, adding, “Out of five fields, whose contracts have been inked, three are shared fields.”

He said more important contracts will be signed within the next two months.

Shifting to the knowledge-based companies’ cooperation with oil industry, the deputy oil minister said the number of these firms has soared to over 600 under the 13th administration from 150.

He quoted the Leader as saying that knowledge-based companies need to play a major role.