Gazprom said that the Russian gas giant has signed a deal with Iran
to implement integrated projects for hydrocarbon production,
transmission and processing in Iranian territory.
Gazprom CEO
Alexey Miller led a delegation from the
Russian gas company to the Islamic republic on December 13 where he met
with Iran’s Petroleum Minister
Bijan Namdar Zangeneh. "The
parties confirmed their interest in advancing their partnership on a
large scale and discussed potential areas of bilateral cooperation,”
Gazprom said.
Miller and Iran’s Deputy Petroleum Minister and National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) CEO
Ali Kardor signed a "Roadmap” document, which allows Gazprom to conduct a
"proof-of-concept study with regard to implementing integrated projects
for hydrocarbon production, transmission and processing, including
petrochemistry, in Iranian territory”.
NIOC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Iranian Ministry of
Petroleum focused on geological exploration, production, transportation
and exports of crude oil, as well as geological exploration and
production of natural gas.
Moreover, Miller, Kardor, and
Nasrat Rahimi,
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Oil Industry Pension, Saving and
Staff Welfare Fund, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to
explore the opportunities for joint efforts within the Iran LNG project.
"Both documents reflect the willingness of the parties to cooperate
along the entire production chain, from extracting gas in Iran to
monetising the product,” Gazprom said.
Alexei Kokin, a senior oil and gas analyst at
UralSib Financial Corp in Moscow, told New Europe by phone on December
15 that "it’s a bit early to say” about the potential cooperation
between Tehran and Moscow in the gas sphere.
"Obviously Russia and Iran, as far as gas goes, potentially they’re
competitors in the European market if Iran ever manages yet to get some
pipeline through Turkey and then through Iraq ultimately to Europe,”
Kokin said.
"It’s always a question of how Gazprom or any other Russian company
is going to maneuver between getting into joint projects and, on one
hand, benefiting from these projects and, on the other hand, potentially
cannibalizing its own operations, its own exports to Europe as well as
LNG (liquefied natural gas) exports. So it’s always a difficult dilemma
for Russians,” the UralSib oil and gas expert explained.
He reminded that there are also oil investments in Iraq and
Kurdistan. "Those Iraqi investments have been around for a while and in
Iran, as far as I know, there interest from some Russian oil companies
such as LUKoil in investing in Iran but it seems to me it’s at a very
early stage,” he said.
Gazprom and Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum have signed the Memorandum
of Understanding for strategic cooperation in developing Iranian gas
fields with subsequent gas transportation and monetisation.
Gazprom and NIOC signed the following documents: the Memorandum of
Understanding for hydrocarbon prospecting, exploration and production
within Iran; the Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration within
the construction project for the Iran – Pakistan – India gas pipeline;
the Memorandum of Understanding for developing a concept for a unified
system of gas production, transmission and petrochemistry based in Iran.
Gazprom and Industrial Development & Renovation Organization of
Iran, a state-owned subsidiary of Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine
& Trade, inked the Memorandum of Understanding for joint gas
liquefaction projects slated to be implemented in third countries, as
well as projects in the field of advanced gas processing and
petro-chemistry in the territory of Iran.
According to Gazprom, the first phase of the Iran LNG project
provides for the construction of two gas liquefaction trains with the
annual capacity of 5.25 million tonnes each. During the second phase,
the facility’s output will be increased to 21 million tonnes per year
upon the construction of two additional process trains. Iran LNG Сo
serves as the project operator, with NIOC and Oil Industry Pension,
Saving and Staff Welfare Fund as the main shareholders.
"If Iran exports liquefied natural gas (LNG) potentially it’s going
to compete with Russian gas,” Kokin said. "So it’s a bit of a difficult
situation.”
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/potential-european-market-rivals-russias-gazprom-irans-nioc-sign-gas-cooperation-deals/