China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the country’s top offshore oil and gas producer, is set to sign an agreement with Iran within weeks for 10 million tons of liquefied natural gas, two people familiar with the situation said.
If concluded, the agreement with the National Iranian Oil Company would guarantee supplies for three new or expanded LNG terminals in China, or most of the remaining facilities that CNOOC wants to build, reported Forbes on Monday.
“Talks with Iran on an agreement are going on, but so far we haven’t signed any deal,“ CNOOC spokesman Liu Junshan said.
The natural gas would come from Iran’s North Pars project, those close to the deal said. LNG would be delivered to terminals CNOOC plans to build at Zhuhai in the southern province of Guangdong and Ningbo in the eastern province of Zhejiang. Supplies would also go to a third facility, likely an expansion of a receiving terminal in the southern province of Fujian, which is due to begin operation this year.
“Iran is our target place for sourcing LNG,“ said a sales manager with Guangdong Zhuhai Jinwan LNG Corp., which is working with CNOOC in developing the Zhuhai terminal.
The US has exerted pressure on CNOOC to scrap plans to invest in the North Pars gas field. Asserting that Iran hadn’t halted its nuclear program, the US last year said it was ’a particularly bad time to be initiating major new commercial deals with Iran’.
CNOOC and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding early last year, and media reports have said the Chinese company could invest as much as $16 billion in Iran, which holds the world’s second largest gas reserves.
Under the terms of the initial agreement, CNOOC will purchase North Pars gas for 25 years.

700 new locomotives are needed for the national rail network.

Roughly 10 trillion rials have been envisaged for management of fuel consumption in the rail transportation sector in budget bill for the fiscal year to March 2009, observed managing director of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways Hassan Ziyari.
He added that bill also projected allocation of 2.15 trillion rials as the annual budget for the sector.
Last week President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad notified his special representative in charge of developing public transportation and fuel management of the Comprehensive Public Transportation Development Law which mandates the government to expand public transportation by developing railroads, unifying transportation management, revising prices and improving safety.
He said that about $250 million were allocated to rail transport sector for procuring locomotives, wagons and spare parts within the framework of a note in the Budget Law for the year to March 2008, reported IRNA.
He hoped that allocation of the sum proposed in the next year budget bill would be approved.
Ziyari noted that increasing transport capacity, constructing double track railways, extending the Bafq-Bandar Abbas rail line and converting Tehran-Mashhad rail line to an electric one are among the programs of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways.
He said that the country’s rail transport sector requires more than 700 new locomotives which should be provided gradually.
The official stated that the railways’ budget would rise in the year to March 2008 compared to the figure for the preceding year which was 1.7 trillion rials.
He noted that the railways projects are time consuming, adding Road and Transportation Ministry is capable of using the funds to achieve the targets. He noted that rail transport sector would reach to desirable level the in the next 7-10 years. “Use of advanced technology is a necessity for achieving the goal,“ he noted.

Mehrdad Bazrpash

Board of Directors of Saipa on Tuesday appointed Mehrdad Bazrpash as new managing director of the giant auto manufacturing company.
Minister of Industries and Mines Ali Akbar Mehrabian and head of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO), Ahmad Qalebani and a number of the Majlis deputies will attend at the induction ceremony of Bazrpash to be held today.
The 28-year-old Bazrpash will replace Qalebani which earlier was appointed by the minister as IDRO chief, Fars news agency reported.
Bazrpash earlier was head of president advisors council, a member of Board of Directors of Siapa as well as advisor of former Tehran mayor. He was appointed by Qalebani as head of Pars Khodro Company, the nation’s third largest auto manufacturer, early this year
He holds a master’s degree in management and bachelor in industrial engineering from Sharif University of Technology.

Azadegan field, the largest oil reserve discovered in the world in the past 30 years, is expected to start production earlier schedule during the ’Ten-Day Dawn’ celebrations (February 2-12) to mark the anniversary of the victory of 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Hundreds of experts and staff of National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) have been involved in putting Azadegan field into operation.
Azadegan oilfield is located 80 km west of Ahvaz, the provincial capital of Khuzestan, and has a proven reserve of 33 billion barrels that could rise to 40 billion barrels according to the estimate, PIN reported.
The NISOC Managing Director Seifollah Jahansouz said, “According to the prediction, the seven wells of the (Azadegan) field are expected to produce 25,000 barrels per day (bpd).“
The official added that experts of NISOC and Petroiran Co. were outlining a plan for the second stage of production in an attempt to increase Azadegan’s output to 50,000 barrels a day.
“To this end, the setting up of an independent exploitation plant and a desalination unit, drilling of 12 wells in Azadegan field, and the laying of 130 kilometers of 24 inch pipeline extending from the region to Ahvaz have been planned,“ said the official.
Iran earlier announced that it expected a production of 20,000 bpd from the first six wells of Azadegan field which is located on Iran’s border with Iraq.
The field was to have been developed by a Japanese firm but talks collapsed in 2006. In-place reserves have been put at 26 billion barrels. Japan’s INPEX Holdings Inc. had been due to develop the field but talks collapsed in 2006, with the Japanese firm citing spiraling investment costs. INPEX retains a 10 percent stake. India’s Essar Group said it was in talks with Iran about developing the field.
The first phase of Azadegan oilfield would become operational within the next 42 months in case contractors of the remaining 35 tenders were signed, said the development plan executive official.
Naji Sa’douni told PIN that safety engineering operations, purchase of equipment, and surface operations were the main priorities of the 35 tenders.
He added Petroiran Co. had recently formulated a comprehensive plan on the timetable for putting the tenders into practice.
Two of the tenders on the development of Azadegan field were ceded in October 2006, said the official, adding the two included the construction of makeshift camp for staff and the building of road.

Mohsen Rezaei Photo by Ali Hassanpour

National economy’s dependence on oil revenues is one of main obstacles to economic sustainable development, secretary of Expediency Council said.
Speaking at the first international symposium on Iran 2025, Mohsen Rezaei stated Tuesday that direction of development should change from political to economic fields.
“In the early years of the Islamic Revolution, development was started in political fields but now the priority should be given to economic development.“
Turning to Vision 2025, the official said the document would help the country reach its long-term economic and social objectives. He, however, added that the country lags behind the targets set in the plan.
Speaking at the same gathering, secretary of the symposium, Omidvar Rezaei stated that planners and policymakers who drafted Vision 2025 aimed to adopt long-term plans to transform Iran into a key regional player.
It took five years for the influential council to draw up Vision 2025, incorporating long-term national plans for the economic, social, scientific and technological arenas for the next two decades.
The plan has envisaged for the country to be a developed state and the best in the region in economic, scientific and technological sectors.
It is also expected Iran to have a single-digit inflation and unemployment rates as well as the infrastructure needed for economic, social, political and cultural growth.
He promised that such gathering will be held annually to assess the implementation of Vision 2025.
Meanwhile, the Majlis vice speaker, Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi said the country has achieved significant progress in the scientific field since the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Senior officials, ambassadors and experts attended the daylong gathering on Tuesday.

Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Reza Kasaeizadeh said the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) had allocated $150 million for the completion of the 7th nationwide gas pipeline.
Some 60 million cubic meters of natural gas would be transferred to the southern and southeastern regions of the country per day when the first phase of the 7th pipeline comes on stream, reported PIN.
The first phase that would link Asalouyeh port in southern Bushehr province to Iranshahr would meet gas demand of southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan and southern Hormuzgan provinces and some parts of Bushehr, southern Fars, and southeastern Kerman provinces.
The NIGC chief added the pipeline would also inject natural gas for industries, power plants and cities in the provinces.
The sixth cross-country gas transmission pipeline with a fund 10 trillion rials ($1.07b) would become operational at the end of the current Iranian year to March 19, 2008, the project’s executive manager said.
Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company’s Ali-Akbar Sha’banpour added the NIGC provided the total fund.
The pipeline is designed to transfer sweet gas from phases 9 and 10 of South Pars field, he added.

Although winter crops need a few weeks of cold before blooming, persistent snow cover is often harmful.

Continuation of freezing weather may result in serious loss of crops such as winter wheat and barley, a university instructor said Tuesday.
Speaking to ISNA, Hamidreza Khazaei, a faculty member of Mashhad’s Ferdowsi University, termed the recent cold weather as unprecedented adding the exact amount of losses have yet not been assessed since freezing weather conditions persist in the country.
Winter wheat and barley are planted in the late fall or early winter and are harvested in the late spring or early summer.
Although winter crops need a few weeks of cold before blooming, persistent snow cover might be disadvantageous.
Khazaei recalled that damage can be reduced through proper cultivation, preparing the farmland and selecting seeds suitable for each region.
Recent cold weather, unprecedented in the past 50 years, has also damaged greenhouses and flowers in Tehran province as well as citrus crops in northern provinces. Over 50 percent of greenhouse flowers and tomatoes were damaged in Varamin, Savojbolagh, Pakdasht and Shemiranat.
Vegetables harvested from farms in Dezful, Khuzestan province have dropped due to unusually cold weather, causing shortage of fresh vegetables in most parts of the country including the capital Tehran.
A price hike for fruits, especially citrus, is expected with the approach of new Iranian year to start March 21.