The Petroleum Conference – Iran 2016, was held at the Iranian Chamber of Commerce on 1st October this year with the purpose of addressing the challenges of private sector in Iran petroleum industry with the objective of seeking foreign investment and develop partnership in the follow-up conference in January 2017.

According to the Petroleum Conference – Iran 2016 press office, all major associations in Iran oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors in downstream and middle stream made great effort to address the opportunities, issues and readiness to move to the next level of partnership with global organisations.

The 2016 conference, comprised three panels which were fully organised and participated by board members of all eight major associations and government decision makers.

The final statement of this conference, which has been presented by Conference general secretary, acknowledged the Iran Petroleum private sectors capabilities and willingness to initiate their cooperation with global partners, investors and partners.

The technical panels of the 2016 conference started by the managers of petroleum industry associations in downstream and middle stream sectors in which they discussed the capacities of the contracting sector, manufacturing equipment and products to supply the national petroleum industry and exporting the technical and engineering services including related petroleum and petrochemical products and solutions. This panel has been held by Mohammad Reza Tabibzadeh, Board member of oil, gas and petrochemical engineering and construction companies (APEC), Massoud Bagher Tajrishi, Board member of Iranian industrial manufacturers association (SATSA), Farzan Golchin, Head of the exporters of oil, gas and petrochemical products association (OPEX), Reza Khayamian Head of the board of directors of Iranian petroleum industry equipment manufacturers association (SIPIEM), Hassan Hashemi, Head of the board of directors of the syndicate of engineering and manufacturing companies of petroleum and energy industries (ECCA-OPI), Ahmad Mahdavi, Secretary General of the Association of Petrochemical Industry employers (APIC) and Ahmad Gharavi, Secretary General of the exporters of technical services syndicate of Iran (ICCA).

The second panel of 2016 conference started with the agenda of improvement the business environment in Iran. This panel was held with the presence of Ahmad Doost Hosseini, Head of Iran National Development Fund; Reza Shiva, Head of the National Competition Committee and Mohsen Ghamsari, Director of International Affairs of National Iranian Oil Company.

In the third panel, the major discussion was about financing private sector projects in Iran, financial shortfalls and the provision of required facilities to manage forthcoming opportunities.  In this panel Chairman of the Export Development Bank and Head of Export Guarantee Fund, as well as other experts from this sector stated their aim to provide more investment opportunities for their members.

As the conclusion of the Petroleum Conference of 2016, the final statement was read by the Conference Secretary, Sayed Mehrdad Hosseini.