Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The Iranian MPs have approved allocation of $20 billion in bonds to finance oil and gas projects in the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21, Fars news agency reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, the Oil Ministry and the Central Bank of Iran each have been authorized to issue bonds worth $10 billion.

The priorities for investment are projects on the development of joint oil and gas fields.

In July 2012, the Central Bank of Iran opened a $10 billion line of credit for a number of national oil projects in the upstream sector.

Iran's national oil projects have a number of funding sources, such as access to 18 percent of the assets of the National Development Fund and the funds raised through the issuance of foreign currency bonds worth $10 billion.

Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has said that the country's oil output is projected to increase by 1.5 million barrels per day by 2016.

Iran has the world's fourth-largest reserves of recoverable oil after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Canada.

With 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, Iran has the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia.

Iranian Oil Ministry spokesman Alireza Nikzad Rahbar said Iran is currently negotiating with members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to maintain the oil prices at around $100 in international markets.

Iran considers the logical price of crude to be around $100 to $120 a barrel, Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.

It is possible to reach agreement on the issue of oil price without holding an emergency meeting, he said.

In 2012, Iran's representative to OPEC Seyyed Mohammad Ali Khatibi said that if oil prices fall below $100 per barrel, international companies will face problems with investing in oil projects.