Hosainikia said that the committee held talks with Mohsen Paknejad, the petroleum minister nominee, to assess his plans.

According to him, boosting production from shared oil and gas fields, upgrading oil refineries and petrochemical plants, and collecting gas flares are among the main priorities of the proposed minister.   

“Paknejad also plans to use domestic elites' capabilities to run the ministry and concerning fuel management, he plans to curb fuel smuggling along with increasing domestic gasoline production so that there is no need to import the product.” The deputy told Shana.

On Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian submitted the list of his proposed ministers to the parliament for approval.

Paknejad will be the 14th administration’s Minister of Petroleum in case of securing a vote of confidence.

Born in 1966 in the capital city of Tehran, Mohsen Paknejad has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Tehran University and a master's degree in Industrial engineering from the AmirKabir University of Technology.

He has already served in the Petroleum Ministry as the deputy minister of petroleum for supervision over hydrocarbon resources from 2018 to 2021.

Paknejad started his career in the early 1990s in the Ministry of Energy and then moved to the Petroleum Ministry in 1997 where he has served in different managerial posts.