Iran is turning sanctions into opportunities, and has managed to domestically produce the parts subject to the sanctions through close cooperation between its universities and research centers, Qassemi said on Friday.
Qasemi said on Friday that a large proportion of equipment required for the development of 17 phases of the giant gas field is now being supplied by domestic manufactures.
Qassemi also said that Iran will turn into a major petrol exporter once Setareh Khalij-e Fars (the Persian Gulf Star) -- the country’s biggest refinery -- is operational in the Southern port city of Bandar Abbas, located about 1,320 kilometers (820 miles) South of Tehran, at the beginning of the next Iranian calendar year, which begins on March 21, 2014.
He went on to say that Iran plans to mainly export its oil derivatives to its neighboring states.
Iran is engaged in talks with its neighboring countries in order to reach agreements with them over the export of natural gas, the Iranian oil minister said, stressing that the country will change its revenue source from oil to gas in the near future.
Qassemi stated that Iran is currently constructing 70 petrochemical units, and the country’s annual production of petrochemicals will jump to 100 million tons from the current 60 million tons once those projects come on stream.
Late in May, Qassemi outlined the Oil Ministry's policies during a conference titled Defining Oil Ministry's Policies for the Year 1992 (Started March 21, 2013).
At the start of his address, Qassemi thanked the oil industry staff that helped Iranian oil industry to overcome hardships aroused last year from sanctions and counted the numerous remarkable achievements of oil industry over the last year.
He said when someone intends to evaluate the oil industry record, should take into account some limitations last year including sanctions without that a realistic assessment would be impossible.
He said despite widespread sanctions imposed last year, the oil industry succeeded to attract more than $24bln investment in upstream sector which is unprecedented.
He stressed on the importance of launching Shazand oil refinery last year calling its inauguration a historic event. He continued last year foreign contractors did not accomplish their obligations in the refinery due to sanctions but domestic workforce managed to complete the project and brought it on stream through day and night efforts.
Qassemi said strong presence in developing shared oil and gas fields was another remarkable achievement of oil industry last year stating while few years ago just 8 oil rigs were operational in onshore and offshore sectors of the country, these days the number of operational drilling rigs stand at 20 oil rigs mainly owning by Iranians.
He noted that investment in shared oil and gas fields favors the country 'and for example development of two phases of South Pars gas field will enable the country to start gas export to Iraq as of mid-Summer which will make about $5bln of revenue for the country annually'.
He also said the gas sector has been able to produce 750 million cubic meters of gas per day during the peak consumption in winter without facing any problem in meeting household or industrial sector needs, while at the same time has concluded gas contracts with the neighboring countries which meet mutual interests.
"Even though sanctions led to some hardships for oil industry, but could not hinder its progress. Sanctions have enabled those weak contractors who were not able to implement mega projects in oil industry to promote themselves and change into capable contractors enjoying international standards, the companies that are now in charge of big projects even though some weaknesses are undeniable," Qassemi continued.
Referring to naming current year by the Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution as the Year of Political and Economic Epic, Qassemi said: Economic Epic in oil industry means hard work in all spheres and emphasized on two points. 'these two points include streamlining administrative issues and removing long and resentful bureaucracy in implementation of the projects one the one hand and paying special attention to self-sufficiency which means reliance on domestically manufacturing and supporting domestic contractors on the other hand.
