Iran on track toward indigenizing oil industry

Yusef Jalali
Press TV, Tehran

As US sanctions are still haunting Iran's oil sector, Tehran is resorting to domestic firms to keep the strategic sector up and running.

This event is one of those efforts. Iran's Petroleum Industry’s Innotech Park hosted state and private oil companies as well as science-based firms to highlight the major needs of Iran's oil and petrochemical industries and find domestic suppliers to meet their demands.

One of the primary concerns of an oil project is to ensure a sustainable water supply system.

US oil embargoes against Iran also target the subcategories of this branch, such as filtration membranes that are used in chillers and cooling systems.

Experts say as a result of the sanctions, it takes a painstakingly lengthy and complicated process to supply such products.

The good news is there are many companies here that can supply ultra-filtration systems.

Like this firm that claims to have built competitive filters that outpace their foreign counterparts both in quality and cost-effectiveness.

In 2018, Iran was the third largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Following the US’s unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal and the re-imposition of sanctions the same year, Iran’s oil output almost halved to less than 2 million barrels a day, while its exports tumbled to less than 1 million bpds, down from 2.5 million.

This has prompted the country to rebuild its oil sector using its domestic know how; a long term goal which if accomplished will make the country an oil power.

Less than a century ago, Iran marked a milestone by nationalizing its petroleum industry. Today it is on the track toward indigenizing the strategic sector.

Experts here say this would be another turning point in the oil industry, since it would shield the country's crude from the impacts of US sanctions.