Mohsen Paknejad spoke on Monday on the sidelines of a meeting with Hayan Abdul-Ghani Al-Sawad, Iraq’s deputy prime minister for energy. He said that given the cultural, religious and historical commonalities between Iran and Iraq, as well as favorable conditions for cooperation, joint efforts in the oil sector have begun. Some of these efforts relate to previously signed agreements between the two countries, and this visit included steps to implement those agreements.

Paknejad noted that part of the agreements involves exploration in the sea using the capabilities of Iranian companies, with a joint working group preparing the groundwork for implementation. He added that in western Iran, NGL facilities—which use associated gas from crude oil as feedstock—face shortages. Meanwhile, Iraq burns some of this associated gas from fields near the Iranian border after extraction. As a result, the two countries signed an agreement to transfer this gas into Iran as feedstock for NGL units, with private sector investment.

The oil minister emphasized that another part of the agreements includes the joint development of the Khorramshahr field, which is shared with Iraq’s Sindbad field. Preparations for this project will be reviewed by technical committees before moving to the implementation phase.

Paknejad noted that these documents go beyond preliminary agreements, covering both cooperation and confidentiality clauses, with preliminary commitments outlined in the texts.