In an interview he said: the 13th administration decided not to tie the future of selling oil to the Iran’s deal with 5+1 countries called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a deal that former U.S president withdrew it unilaterally while in office and imposed harsh sanctions against Iran’s oil industry immediately. 

 He said: when the current administration took office in August 2021, Iran’s oil exports amounted to less than half a million barrels per day while these days it has surged to an acceptable level; without mentioning a figure.

“Sanctions have their own consequences but despite continuation of sanctions the 13th administration took initiatives that were acceptable and could raise oil exports from less than 500 thousand barrels per day to an acceptable level.

He said: as it has been frequently announced by the Minister of Petroleum, the strong approach of the 13th administration on energy scene, energy diplomacy, has enabled the country to double the volume of its oil exports which is the result of expanding trade relations with the regional and beyond that with Latin American countries. 

Replying to a question on his assessment of the current Petroleum Ministry’s performance, he said: the previous administrations did not pay attention to energy diplomacy especially boosting energy ties with the neighboring countries but the 13th administration took proper initiatives in this regard so that its results can be seen in figures.

In my view, further boosting cooperation with the neighboring country will help us to increase oil exports and further develop the oil industry, he said.

“The 13th administration took advantage of the energy diplomacy approach potentials including signing oil contracts with Latin American countries, building and repairing oil refineries, exporting engineering and technical services as well as providing equipment and feedstock to refineries”, the member of parliament noted.

We can see the results of offsetting sanctions in rising oil revenues and economic growth, he said adding there is no doubt that we need more investment in the oil sector to continue economic growth.

Hosainzadeh said: We should pursue investments in building oil refineries in order to stop selling raw materials, to create value-added by transforming crude oil to valuable products, to thwart sanctions, to raise foreign exchange revenues and diversify our oil destinations to achieve our economic growth goals.

Another member of parliament told Shand yesterday that directing liquidity towards the oil industry’s downstream activities not only leads to self-sufficiency but creates jobs along with profitability to the benefit of people.

Parviz Mohammadnejad added that cooperation between banks and the oil industry is a kind of win-win game.

He further said: if we create mechanisms and frameworks that facilitate the banking system’s presence in the oil industry activities, they will definitely fill the existing gap of financial resources, leading to stable profitability and efficiency of the banking system as well.

“The stray liquidity which sometimes goes to the housing and auto market, should be redirected toward the oil industry, " he said, noting that directing banks’ resources towards the oil industry, as the driving force of the economy, will undoubtedly result in playing a positive role in the country’s economy by banks.