Minister of Petroleum: Petropars Is the Best Iranian E&P Company
In the course of the ceremony held for concluding the contract for development of Belaal Gas Field, Engineer Zanganeh commented that Petropars was the best Iranian E&P company as in all contracts to which Petropars was a party, Petropars managed to carefully observe and stay very close to its commitments and undertakings both time-wise and cost-wise.
According to a report released by the Public Relations and International Affairs Department of Petropars Group, in the course of the said ceremony which was held on Saturday Shahriver 23, 1398 (September 14, 2019), the Minster of Petroleum expressed his gratitude and appreciation to all directors, managers, employees, contractors and advisors who spared no effort in the past 22 years for the exploration, production, development and commissioning of the jointly-owned South Pars Gas Field. He further said, “Thanks to your untiring attempts we are proud we are now able to erect and install all platforms manufactured within the 27 phases at South Pars Gas Field by the end of the current Iranian year and that, save the Refinery of Phase 14, all phases will have been commissioned by then attaining their final production capacity.
The Minister underlined the significance of the Contract concluded for development of Belaal Gas Field given the fact that it develops the Eastern section of South Pars Gas Field, and stated, “The fact that this Contract was concluded with Petropars is not strange since from my point of view Petropars is the best Iranian E&P company as in all contracts to which Petropars was a party, Petropars has managed to carefully observe and stay very close to its commitments and undertakings both time-wise and cost-wise; a quality which is of high significance when companies are evaluated and assessed.
Minister Zanganeh went on to further add, “In the past we had contracts whose time period was extended two-fold and whose value was increased by two. The fact is works and contracts come to their end and contracts are completed but what is of great importance is that how much and money you have spent for a project to be executed and completed. These two factors are the most important qualities which are taken into consideration when assessing and evaluating companies. Petropars has been very successful in this respect and I should congratulate them all for the untiring efforts and unsparing attempts.
The Petroleum Minister remembered the founders of Petropars and commented, “In true sense of the word, Petropars is a knowledge-based company while at the time when Petropars was established, this concept was not publicized then and hence some restrictions were imposed for such companies.
The Minster pointed out, “The amount predicted and expected for completion of this project measures USD 440 million which will be financed by the National Development Fund. Of course, this is a contract within a new scheme in which the contract value is not fixed from the very beginning. Hence, the general contractor ordinarily should hold some tenders after which the prices will be determined and such prices will be the basis for final decision-making.”
Minister Zanganeh expressed his pleasure over concluding of the contract and commencement of development of the Eastern Section of South Pars Gas Field. He added, “In the plan and program I presented to the Islamic Consultative Assembly (ICA) I undertook to finalize all jointly-owned fields by the end of the tenure Dr Rouhani’s Administration will be in place. By that date there will be no jointly-owned field for which a contractor was not selected to be working based on a transparent executive system and for which the financing was not provided.”
He stressed, “All phases of South Pars Gas Field will have been completed by the end of the present Administration, and the executive operations for development of Phase 11, which have been delayed for some reasons, will begin. We will make every plans and scheduling to have the first phase of Phase 11 commissioned by mid-1400.”
The Minister of Petroleum further stated, “Beginning as of this very date, every one or two weeks we either will have a new contract concluded or will have a new project inaugurated. The good point is that the international sanctions have not been able t hinder and stop us. We are alive and active and make every effort to initiate and commence new mega projects for Iranian contractors, advisors and manufacturers at oil and gas sector.”
Minister Zanganeh concluded his remarks saying, “Since the international sanctions have deprived us from having the technical know-how transferred to Iran to increase and boost the pressure of the platforms, I invite our experts and specialists to design and fabricate what are required to this end so that we can resolve this problem relying on internal competence and domestic capabilities.”