Iran views Russia as a strategic partner and welcomes investments by Russian companies in the country's oil industry, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters following his visit to Moscow on December 21, Shana news agency reported.
"We welcome investments of Russian companies in the country's oil sector," he said. The minister also commented on the topics of talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov. "One of the topics discussed at the meeting is the global oil markets. And given the serious cooperation in OPEC+, we discussed views on this issue, which turned out to be very close," he said.
Zanganeh also added that cooperation with Russian companies in oil, gas and equipment manufacturing would continue. "We see Russia as a strategic partner, and nothing can change this fact," he concluded.
Russia and Iran are currently working on a wide range of trade and economic cooperation issues. In 2020, it has become even more active and meaningful, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said earlier, following a meeting with Zanganeh. Novak discussed with the Iranian side the key issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the oil sphere. Russian-Iranian relations in the energy sphere are currently developing successfully, he added.
Russian oil companies were interested in projects in Iran before the US sanctions were imposed, in particular Rosneft, Lukoil, Gazprom Neft and Zarubezhneft. However, since 2018, the US sanctions have been in effect against Iran, which prohibit the entire world from buying its oil. Because of this, Russian companies have suspended their Iranian projects. Now Tehran is hoping that with the arrival of the new President Joe Biden in the US, the rhetoric against Iran will change and the sanctions will be lifted. Iran has already announced its readiness to raise oil production by 2 million b/d after that.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Anton Novoderezhkin / TASS
Based on materials from TASS