Iranian plans to privatize the country’s downstream oil sector were put on hold after parliament vetoed a government move to sell off the National Iranian Drilling Co., according to newspaper reports on January 28th.
Parliament, hoping to avoid labor unrest, blocked a plan to transfer the drilling company to the investment firm that manages oil ministry retirement funds.
The plan had incited a strike by the company’s workers last year, leaving many concerned over job security.
Scores of workers have lost their jobs as the government has moved to sell off companies to improve efficiency.
Iranian parliamentarian Jassem Shadidzadeh said that: “Every day the oil ministry and the privatization committee transfer one big company to the retirement fund. Now the parliament has put an end to this trend.”
The oil ministry had planned to privatize 23 of its subsidies in the downstream oil sector by 2005 and attempted the transfer of the drilling company to pay back loans taken from the retirement funds to finance oil projects during the 1980s and 1990s, when Iran lacked foreign investment capital.
The National Iranian Tanker Co. is being transferred to a social welfare organization in the first step towards full privatization, at which time the company’s stock will be floated on the local stock market.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
