In what must be one of the toughest jobs in oil & gas, the new Iranian parliament recently approved Masoud Mir-Kazemi as the country’s new oil minister.Â
Mir-Kazemi was President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s first choice for the role and was selected after an interview process where he spelled out his intended programme to focus on raising oil, gas, and petrochemical production and stressed the need for modernisation. He also played down the issue of gas exports compared to previous ministers.
Samuel Ciszuk from IHS Global Insight Perspective has very kindly provided us with an analysis snapshot of what is to come from the new man at the helm of Iran’s hydrocarbons industry. Â
Significance
With Mir-Kazemi, having passed parliamentary scrutiny, months of relative administrative inaction will come to an end within the hydrocarbons industry, although increased politicisation—and ultimately fewer opportunities for foreign outfits—should be expected from this mainly political man.
Implications
Mir-Kazemi lacks direct oil and gas industry experience but has served as commerce minister and has an industrial engineering background, likely helping him with his main task—to manage and prioritise between projects amid Iran’s financial and technological constraints. He will prioritise continued efforts to arrest mature oil decline and raise production from new and producing fields, as well as boosting the gas output and petrochemical capacity, but is likely to play down Iran’s gas export efforts amid the continuing international isolation.
Outlook
Outwardly little will change in Iran’s oil policies, with the really important issue of Mir-Kazemi’s tenure being whether Iranian contractors—with ties to the president’s supporters—will be prioritised over international companies and whether the gas export programmes will be played down more officially in favour of more domestic supply efforts, a process that is already de facto under way given the sanctions facing Iran.
