IRAN’S deputy oil minister Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh has invited foreign countries to invest in a new Tehran project to build an oil pipeline from the north to the south of the country. Addressing the recent inaugural session of the International Oil Refining Forum (IOR), the first of its kind in the country, the minister said that a feasibility study had been conducted by Tehran to build a pipeline capable of transporting 1m brl/d of Caspian crude oil from the north to the south of the country.
"We would like to negotiate and exchange views with interested countries and investors to implement the project," he said. Mr Nematzadeh, who is president of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Co (NIORDC), said that Iran will open-up its refining industry to investors who can engage in direct and indirect activities, and will serve as a bridge of friendship and cordial cooperation between Iran and their countries as well as their respective companies.