Oil minister renews Iran's resolve to develop Oil

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi stressed on Sunday that development of oil and gas fields shared with the neighboring countries sets a priority for his ministry and the Iranian government. "(Iran's) oil industry is seriously pursuing activity in joint fields," Qassemi said in Iran's Eastern province of South Khorassan today. "And all government bodies support and accompany the oil industry in fulfilling this important task (development of joint oil and gas fields)," the minister reiterated. In August, a senior Iranian oil official announced that the country has worked out an agreement with its neighbor, Iraq, to develop joint oil fields at the two countries' shared borders. Speaking to FNA, Managing-Director of the Iranian Central Oil Fields Company (ICOFC) Mehdi Fakour said, "We are waiting for the Iraqis to be prepared for inking the deal." "The contract is presently on the agenda of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and its details are being studied," Fakour stated at the time. Earlier this year, Tehran and Baghdad agreed to set up joint expert committees to finalize technical and financial details of a deal over developing joint oil fields. The two countries have 23 joint oil fields in their border regions. In August 2010 Iran started producing crude oil from an oil field shared with Oman in the Persian Gulf's Strait of Hormuz. Hengam oil field in Qeshm free zone was inaugurated by the then Oil Minister, Massoud Mir-Kazzemi.