Ministry of Oil caretaker, Vaziri Hamaneh, addressed an international conference in Tehran themed ‘Global Convergence, New Energy Paradigms’, during which he chided major oil consuming countries for levying high taxes on oil and its derivatives, which makes their profits even higher than oil producing countries. When asked whether his criticism of consuming countries is a warning by the second biggest oil producing in OPEC to consumer countries to lower taxes, he said, "I also said this in the latest OPEC conference. In fact, their tax revenues are much higher than revenues earned by oil exporting countries."

With regard to OPEC’s cooperation with oil markets he said, "Naturally, producers and consumers should join hand, but every group must also support their own respective interests." Asked about critics who claim OPEC is not cooperating in lower oil prices, he noted, "If you look at speeches made by oil ministers of various countries carefully, you’d see that they say OPEC is not pumping enough oil. However, this is not true and at present, there is two million barrels surplus oil in the markets."

When a reporter asked about Hamaneh’s interest in attracting foreign investment, he said, "We naturally welcome foreign investments as we did in the past, but we want suitable prices and conditions."

Referring to projections about oil price hitting $100 per barrel, he noted, "These are predictions based on market demand and production capacities of various countries. Perhaps they enjoy scientific basis, but they are still mere forecasts." Hamaneh, however, declined to comment about a possible OPEC decision during the organization’s next meeting and said participants will certainly talk about the next secretary general.

He also stated that Iran is sure to encourage foreign companies to invest in its oil industry. When he was leaving conference venue at the International Conference Hall of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), a reporter asked him whether Iran is planning to sign new buyback contracts. He said, "I don’t know. I really don’t know." Of course, he had slammed that type of contracts only a few minutes earlier and had noted that the time is past for those deals.

Hosseini is not a governmental official anymore, but member of board of directors of a major company which has soared in the past eight years. He added, "Some problems including excessive use of oil reservoirs and high costs of exploration and development have jeopardized oil and production hike in the long run."

The official added that global inattention to investment and creation of new capacities, inattention to economic growth in developing countries such as India and China, lack of cooperation between producers and consumers as well as characteristics of the current market are among major problems which have made the market unsafe for consumers.

He also touched upon increasing oil and gas demand, saying, "The United States accounts for 43% of total consumption of oil and its products. China is faring similarly and total energy consumption in the world has increased 3.4%."

Former Deputy Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Company said OPEC will not succeed in realizing its goal of doubling production by 2020 and in that case, the market will be facing serious fluctuations. "Upstream production costs in the future can lead to more problems. OPEC needs at least $42 billion in investment to produce about 58 million barrels oil per day by 2020. We know that OPEC cannot do this single-handedly and needs support from international companies," he noted.

Hosseini stated that 80% of buyback deals were signed for development of oil fields. Iran’s gas production will hit 400 million cu. m. per year, to catch up with or even surpass Qatar.

It seems that due attention has not been paid to cooperation between oil consumers and producers in the past decades, but now increasing attention is being paid to this issue so that both sides know that that cooperation can solve many problems in the oil markets.

Hamaneh also explained about Iran’s goals for meeting rising demand in the oil market. He said the country aims at increasing its crude oil production capacity to 5.23 million barrels per day, produce 700 million cu. m. natural gas per day, and increase production of petrochemicals to $15 billion a year by the end of the Fourth Economic Development Plan. "Despite obstructionism by the United States, the Iranian Ministry of Oil is planning to attain its deserved position in the oil market through cooperation of friendly countries," he noted.

The Ministry of Oil caretaker also stated that Iran is expected to attract $70 billion in investments by the end of the Fourth Economic Development Plan and boost its refining capacity to one million barrels per day. Hamaneh said that lack of timely investment in upstream sector is the main barrier which will limit future oil supply, adding, "Increased oil prices, which are mainly due to limitations in upstream and downstream oil sectors prove the untoward effects of inadequate investment level after a period of delay."