President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters during a tour of the 11th International Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals Exhibition that any news about progress of the country in any field makes him happy, adding, "Our happiness is doubled today as we see that domestic oil industry manufacturers have greatly grown in terms of quantity and quality of their products."

He added that domestic manufacturers are currently producing oil industry parts and equipment by taking advantage of advanced technology and hoped that Iran will soon reach self-sufficiency in oil industry and even export oil industry equipment to other countries.

The president stated that active manpower of the oil industry is a very valuable asset for the country and added that in addition to perseverance of craftsmen, domestic production also requires state supports and expressed hoped that state supports for the sector will increase more than before.

The chief executive pointed to the necessity of reducing dependence on oil revenues, saying, "Increasing oil revenues is very good and we hope that oil price will stabilize at a logical level. However, we must try to reduce our dependence on oil revenues by expanding non-oil exports."

Referring to export of 10.2 billion dollars of non-oil products during the past Iranian calendar year (ended March 20, 2006), the president said the figure was much higher than the expected and expressed hope that more growth will happen in the sector during the current Iranian calendar year through suitable performance of producers and exporters as well as state supports.

Ahmadinejad noted that projected credits for supporting non-oil industries during the Fourth Economic Development Plan stand at 50 billion dollars and added that administrative and bureaucratic structure of the country is such that imports are carried out quite easily, but exports face many barriers.

"We are trying to correct related laws to help promote export of non-oil goods," he added.

Asked about possible gasoline rationing in the second half of the year, the president said, "The government follows suit with Majlis approvals and we must implement laws. Therefore, we will ration gasoline during the second half of the year by distributing intelligent fuel card."

Seyed Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh, Minister of Petroleum

The chief executive noted that the current gasoline consumption does not reflect real need to gasoline and credits which should be allocated to investment and production are wasted due to excessive consumption of gasoline. He said that people could do their usual chores under rationing conditions and they would only have to reduce unnecessary travels. 

Parviz Davoudi, first vice president, addressed the inaugural ceremony of the exhibition, saying, "Despite efforts made by industrial countries to find alternative fuels at exorbitant costs, it is projected that the world’s dependence on oil and gas will double over the next 20 years. Therefore, fossil fuels will have the first say with regard to global energy supply for the next half century."

Referring to the fact that global oil reserves have been estimated at 1,200 billion barrels according to official figures related to 2004, he added that the Middle East accounts for 61.7 percent of that figure with Iran’s share standing at 11 percent. "Share of the United States, with 29.5 billion barrels of oil reserves, has been estimated at 2.5 percent."

Davoudi concluded that, according to statistics, useful life of oil reserves is 12 years for the United States, 82 years for the Middle East, and 88 years for Iran.

According to him in view of economic growth in industrial countries and increasing demand for oil and gas and since about 300 dilapidated nuclear power plants will be phased out, Iran’s share in supplying the world’s energy will stand at a minimum of 50 percent.

The vice president admitted that energy will be the most sensitive issue for the world in years to come because despite efforts for substituting fossil fuels at high price, those energies will not be able to meet increasing energy demand in the coming years.

Davoudi emphasized that the Islamic Republic of Iran is quite aware of its potential strategic importance and power in view of increased sensitivity of oil and gas in coming years, and figures show that Iran enjoys a very valuable tool, which is not only an impetus for development and public welfare, but is also an effective tool in international interactions and to bolster real peace and security.

He continued by saying that the 20-Year Perspective Plan aims at promoting international interactions in line with bolstering domestic and international investment and directing them toward development of domestic industry. "Therefore, the ninth government will do anything to attract foreign and domestic investments for, at least, the next 3.5 years."

Davoudi stated that a special headquarters has been launched to protect investment security and called on domestic and foreign investors to inform the government about bureaucratic barriers which prevent their activities in Iran; so that, the government will remove those barriers. 

"Holding such an exhibition on this scale and with such quantity and quality, is a special privilege which perhaps only Iran enjoys out of all oil exporting countries," he said.

The minister considered domestic industrial capabilities, as well as existence of competition among international companies for participation in Iran’s oil and gas projects as major reasons for prosperity of the exhibition and said, "This exhibition provides domestic companies with an opportunity to present their capabilities to other state-run and private companies that are seeking capable contractors for the implementation of their projects. Also, domestic specialists will have an opportunity to talks with their international peers and while visiting the latest achievements of global oil industry, boost scientific and technical quality of their activities."

According to Hamaneh, the oil show provides a plane where foreign companies can come to know capabilities of domestic industries and contractors and since cost price of goods and services in Iran is lower; the way will be paved for cooperation with Iranian partners outside the country.

"We hope that joint projects implemented by Iranian and foreign companies will be extended to other countries in the future. If this exhibition had no other achievement but to help domestic industrial experts, it would have been sufficient," he said.

The minister admitted that supplying needed money for implementing projects is the main impetus needed by Iran’s oil industry, saying, "The most important challenge facing Iran’s oil and gas industry is the issue of investment and we hope that the Ministry of Petroleum will be helped by the government and Majlis to attract needed investments in the shortest possible time and give a suitable answer to the enthusiasm for taking part in Iran’s oil and gas projects, part of which has been reflected in the exhibition." 

Asked about gas exports to Europe, he noted that Iran is interested in exporting gas to Europe and the European countries have also indicated their willingness to buy Iran’s gas.

"We have conducted negotiations with them and various paths have been defined which should be put to expert studies before choosing the best path," he opined.

Hamaneh announced that the new round of negotiations on Iran – India gas pipeline via Pakistan, known as peace pipeline, has started in Islamabad, and the meeting will be held at the level of experts and deputy petroleum minister of three countries and the next meeting has been scheduled for late May to be attended by oil ministers of the said three countries.

Answering to criticism about lengthy talks with Chinese sides over Yadavaran field’s project, the minister of petroleum stated that the project is of such importance and sensitivity that it cannot be finalized through one or two rounds of talks. "Next week, a group of Iranian officials are going to China to follow up negotiations," he said.

It should be noted that Germany with 91 companies, England with 62 companies and Italy with 25 companies ranked from the first to third, respectively, in terms of participation in the 11th International Oil, Gas, and Petrochemicals Exhibition.