TEHRAN – Financial and technical resumes of 42 Iranian companies that applied for construction of petro-refineries across the country have been received by the Oil Ministry for assessment, Deputy Oil Minister for Planning Houshang Falahatian said.

Nine of the mentioned companies have managed to also provide proof of funds (POF) documents to verify their financial capability for contribution to the projects, Falahatian told Shana.

Noting that the deadline for nominees’ registration in the program for constructing petro-refineries on the country's coastal regions expired on June 6, the official noted that those companies whose registration hasn’t been completed should submit the required documents and their POF by Tuesday.

He added that the Oil Ministry and the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) will begin the assessment of the received resumes after the mentioned deadline and the eligible companies will be selected to construct petro-refineries.

Back in March, Oil Ministry announced starting of a program for constructing petro-refinery plants in the southern coastal regions, calling on capable domestic companies to contribute to the program.

Following the announcement, 74 domestic companies were authorized for participating in the mentioned program.

According to Falahatian, 117 companies had submitted their requests to the Oil Ministry among which 74 were initially approved.

Increasing the country’s petro-refining capacity has recently become a priority for the Oil Ministry as a key defense mechanism against the impacts of the U.S. sanctions on the country’s oil industry.

In early February, Head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA)’s energy committee, Reza Padidar, had announced that the country’s capable private sector is ready for participation in the oil ministry’s refinery and petro-refinery projects.

Back in June 2019, the Research Center of Iran’s parliament said in a report that petro-refineries are two times more profitable than refineries and suggested that National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)’s new refinery projects be defined as petro-refineries.

The report dubbed “Petro-refineries, their role in completing the oil value chain and the status in Iran’s oil industry” stated that constructing petro-refineries is one of the most important ways to alleviate severe economic impacts of price fluctuations and achieve a much higher margin of profit.

EF/MA