Iranian oil corporations Petropars and Petro Iran have stated their intention to merge into a giant oil exploration company, reported the official Iranian news agency. The move, facilitated by recent management reshuffles in Petro Iran, is carried out through the purchase of Petropars and Petro Iran shares by state-owned oil firm Niko.
Rahim Nejad-Hosseinian is reportedly the Oil Ministry’s favored candidate for the position of chairman of the Board of Managers of the merged companies.
The Channel Islands-registered Petro-Iran Development Company (PEDCO) is a general management company established by the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for the purpose of setting up joint ventures with foreign firms.
Also a NIOC subsidiary, Petropars was registered in British Virgin Island in January 1998 as an oil and gas upstream company. Petropars is owned by the NIOC Pension Fund (60 percent) and the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (40 percent) and operates Phase I of the South Pars development. It also is a junior partner with ENI in Phases VI and V. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
