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Foreign companies seek to enter Iranian market

9 October 2015 11:31 (UTC+04:00)
Foreign companies seek to enter Iranian market

By Sara Rajabova

Foreign companies have lined up to take advantage of cooperation with Iran after the removal of international sanctions imposed on the country over its nuclear energy program.

This comes following the normalization of relations between Iran and the West after the July nuclear deal contributed to the development of cooperation between the Islamic Republic and European countries.

Global energy giant Shell has voiced interest in Iran’s oil and gas projects, but says it is still too early to speak of any specific plans.

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said at the Oil & Money conference in London that Iran is an interesting country in terms of geological structure, and there are interesting prospects for investments in the country’s energy projects, Press TV reported.

Van Beurden also emphasized that his company’s plans in Iran will depend on how the Iranian market develops in the short-term, the investments required and the general situation in the country.

He further confirmed that Shell is engaged in negotiations in Iran but emphasized that the talks are mainly focused on settling of the company’s debts to the National Iranian Oil Company.

Iran’s media earlier reported that a delegation from Shell had recently arrived in Iran for talks with the country’s oil officials.

Shell has not been involved in any major oil and gas project in Iran over the past decade, mostly as a result of the U.S.-engineered sanctions that barred international corporations from the country’s energy projects.

Nevertheless, Shell was involved in the development of the Persian Gulf oil fields Soroush and Norouz and was expected to develop Persian LNG in South Pars, a project that was eventually scrapped mainly because of the sanctions.

While many companies are in talks to resume their activities in the Islamic Republic, some are preparing to sign deals with Iran.

German automaker Mercedes-Benz reported that it would soon sign a major deal with Iran over the production of medium-duty diesel engines.

Gholam-Reza Razzazi, the managing director of Iranian Diesel Engine Manufacturing, told reporters that the cooperation with Mercedes-Benz will specifically involve the production of Arna mini-trucks as well as Arian mini-buses, both of which are upcoming products from IDEM.

Razzazi added that both vehicles would be equipped with the Mercedes-Benz 900 engine.

He said IDEM –a subsidiary of the country’s key auto brand Iran Khodro – and Mercedes-Benz will also cooperate over the production of the German manufacturer’s flagship truck brand named Actros.

Razzazi said Iran had requested Mercedes-Benz to provide an efficient customer support system as a precondition for cooperating with IDEM, adding that the related deals would be signed within weeks.

A number of officials and company representatives from Western countries have recently visited Tehran to discuss boosting ties in the aftermath of sanctions removal.

Earlier in July, world powers Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, reached a nuclear deal with Iran, aiming to curb Tehran's nuclear drive in exchange for a gradual lifting of sanctions imposed on its economy since 2006.

With sanctions gone starting from 2016, foreign investment is due to return to Iran, a country rich with oil and gas resources.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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