India`s SCI Seeking to Revive Irano-Hind Shipping Co.

Trade Deficit with Netherlands
5
Non-oil exports to the Netherlands during the first four months of the current Iranian year (March 20-July 21) stood at 5,400 tons worth $11.6 million, which indicates a 21% decline in value
compared to last year’s corresponding period. Steel products, molybdenum, cocoa butter, raisin, vegetable seed, licorice extract, saffron, dates and tiles were among the main exports, according
to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration. Meanwhile, more than 659,600 tons of goods worth $286 million were imported from the European country during the same period to
register a 38% rise year-on-year. The main imports included corn fodder, oilcake, soybean, grain, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, baby formula, vegetable seed, machinery and industrial
tools.
INTERNATIONAL DAILY
Domestic Economy
Sunday, September 4, 2016, Shahrivar 14, 1395, Zil-Hijja 2, 1437
India’s SCI Seeking to Revive
Irano-Hind Shipping Co.
A
senior official with Shipping Corporation of
India (SCI) said the company plans to revive
an old joint venture with an Iranian company
after a gap of 4 years.
The recent removal of anti-Tehran sanctions opened
the way for resuscitating Irano-Hind Shipping Co.,
which potentially offers access to Central Asian markets
such as Kazakhstan, the Indian company’s Chairman B.
B. Sinha said.
“We don’t want this company to just die out,” he added
as cited by Bloomberg on Friday.
SCI is struggling for respite from an industry downturn.
“The other partner, Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping
Lines, has got great presence in the Caspian Sea.”
SCI resumed sailing to Iran in July after a four-year
gap, transporting an oil cargo for a state-run refiner. It
stopped sailing to Iran in 2012 when the sanctions prevented the company obtaining insurance cover for oil
and other shipments.
Irano-Hind Shipping Co. was established in December
1974. The company, which stopped operation in 2012
due to anti-Iran sanctions, was a joint venture between
the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (51%) and
the Shipping Corporation of India (49%).
Zarif to
Ink Treaty
on Iran’s
Accession to ASEAN
Every two years, the management of the company
switched between Iranians and Indians.
Now that the sanctions are gone, the Indian side is
seeking to take steps to revive the company.
International interest in ties with Iran has been growing
since Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US,
Britain, France and Germany) on July 14, 2015 finalized
the comprehensive nuclear deal and started implementing it on January 16.
The agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA), terminated all nuclear-related
sanctions imposed on Iran.
Iran’s First Oil Recovery Race Is Against Iraq
Iran will soon tender the drilling of
20 wells in its South Azadegan oil field
which is the first reservoir on tap for
development under the country’s postsanction plans.
The National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) has already been awarded
the drilling of 20 wells in South Azadegan which it has to complete in two
years.
NIDC cannot participate in the new
bidding round in which eight companies are vying for rights to drill 20 new
wells in the field, Executive Manager
of the South Azadegan development
project Mahmoud Marashi told the
Shana news agency.
On Tuesday, Managing Director of
the National Iranian Oil company Ali
Kardor said the first tender since the
lifting of sanctions on Iran will take
place between Oct. 14 and Oct. 21,
with South Azadegan topping the list
for development.
The priority is to develop jointlyowned oil and gas fields which are
being dried out by Iran’s neighbors,
including Yaran, Azadegan and Yadavaran.
Azadegan is the world’s third largest
oil field with in-place reserves of about
33.2 billion barrels and recoverable resources of about 6 billion barrels. According to Shana, South Azadegan holds
in-situ reserves of over 25 billion barrels, of which 2 billion are recoverable.
Iran shares South Azadegan with Iraq
which has been producing 210,000 barrels per day from the field since April
2014. Iraq is targeting a production plateau of 1.8 million bpd from the field,
having awarded it to a consortium led
by the Royal Dutch Shell.
Iran first awarded the development
of South Azadegan to Japan’s Inpex in
2001 but had to terminate it after five
years. The country terminated another
contract with China’s CNPC after seeing the company drag its feet on developing the field.
In March, Zangeneh said French oil
and gas firm Total was studying its
participation in the development of
South Azadegan after signing a confidentiality agreement with Iran, presstv
reported.
Iran is currently producing 110,000
bpd of oil from about 40 wells in the
field, according to local media reports.
The completion of another 40 wells
will raise recovery to 320,000 bpd in
the next two years.
New oil and gas projects will be ceded
under a new contract model which officials have described as very flexible,
involving integrated exploration, de-
velopment and production.
On Tuesday, Kardor said the Iran Petroleum Contract will last for 20 years
and include the fee per barrel that is
paid as profit to the company.
Unlike Iran’s former buyback deals,
there will be no ceiling on the capital
expenditure, with officials saying everything would depend on the behavior
of the fields, and the period of time.
Oil companies would have the chance
in the annual work program and budget
to revise the scope of the work and the
cost according to changes.
The new contract, however, has many
critics who warn it could expose Iran
to hefty fines and other punishments.
Some of them have even drawn parallels with the country’s oil concessions
to the UK under the 1901 D’Arcy
Agreement which Iranians believe
squandered their national wealth.
Algerian Energy Min. to
Visit Tehran
Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Bouterfa is scheduled to Travel to Iran and
Qatar in order to hold talks over energy cooperation.
A statement released by Algeria’s Energy Ministry reads “Bouterfa will lead a
delegation on his official visit to Tehran which will take place on September 06.”
The Algerian official is slated to meet with his Iranian counterpart Hamid Chitchian discussing venues for energy cooperation.
Issues related to the 15th meeting of the world’s energy ministers due on September 26-28 as well as the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) are expected to be dealt with during Bouterfa’s visit to Iran.
The Algerian energy minister also intends to pay a visit to Qatar later this month
in order to meet with the Arab country’s energy officials.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is slated
to visit Laos on September 6 to sign a document on
Iran’s accession to the Treaty of Amity & Cooperation (TAC) in Southeast Asia Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN), it was announced on Saturday.
The foreign ministers of ten member countries of
ASEAN on July 24 accepted the accession of Iran,
Chile, Morocco and Egypt.
The Treaty of Amity & Cooperation in Southeast
Asia is a peace treaty among Southeast Asian countries established by the founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a
geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia.
On 24 February 1976, the treaty was signed into
force by the leaders of the original members of ASEAN, Lee Kuan Yew, Ferdinand Marcos, Datuk Hussein Onn, Kukrit Pramoj, and Suharto.
Other members acceded to it upon or before joining
the bloc. It was amended on 15 December 1987 by a
protocol to open the document for accession by states
outside Southeast Asia, and again on 25 July 1998, to
condition such accession on the consent of all member states. On 23 July 2001, the parties established the
rules of procedure of the treaty’s High Council, which
was stipulated in Article 14 of the document.
Iran is trying to join the ASEAN to take practical
steps to implement its policy of looking at the East.
ASEAN is also is of considerable position in the region and has a growing role in regional and international developments.
Auto Industry a
Potential Ground for
Promotion of Cooperation
of Iran, Pakistan
Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoust and Chairman
of the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA)
Sohail Bashir Rana discussed and exchanged views on cooperation
between the two countries in the field of auto industry.
In the meeting, Honardoust called role and position of auto industry in acceleration of trade cooperation between Iran and Pakistan,
especially in post-JCPOA era, ‘very important’ and underlined necessity to prepare ground for more cooperation between companies
in the field of auto manufacturing as well as spare parts producers.
Referring to past cooperation history in the fields of tractor manufacturing and engine building in Pakistan with Iranian companies,
Bashir Rana called for introducing the key companies as well as
support of embassy for re-starting the cooperation and exchanging
technical and expert delegations.
The ambassador expressed embassy’s readiness for every kind of
support and assistances in direction of creating connection and coordination between different related sectors in two countries in either
light and heavy vehicles and added that markets of the two countries
with a high capacity could be appropriate ground for strengthening technical and joint venture projects in different sectors of auto
manufacturing.
Poultry, Meat Industry
Making Progress
Tender Soon to Be Held for Drilling 20
More Wells in South Azadegan Field
Operator of the project for development of South Azaegan oil field Mahmoud
Marashi says National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) has won the tender for drilling 20 oil wells in South Azadegan field.
Marashi said tender will soon be held for drilling of 20 more wells in South Azadegan oil field.
He said eight companies have run the bid for drilling 20 wells in South Azadegan.
‘After financial and technical assessments, the NIODC named the winner of the tender.’
The official said the NIDC should drill the 20 wells in two years. Six drilling rigs
will be employed for the purpose based on the schedule, he added.
Meanwhile, Managing Director of the NIDC, Mohammad-Reza Takaydi said his
company is busy completing 40 wells in South Azadegan and the project is predicted
to be complete by November 21.
He added that drilling of 20 more wells will then begin in the area.
Over the past three years Iran has managed to increase production of table poultry and red meat by 20% to reach an overall figure of 820,000 tons of red meat
and 2.2 million tons of poultry.
However, according to Iranian officials, maintaining the current pace of growth
will require major investment in improving veterinary security and feed supply,
UK-based Global Meat News reported.
The country has made a real breakthrough in terms of developing the agriculture and meat industries during the three-year presidency of Hassan Rouhani,
improving many elements of production, according to data presented at a press
conference on August 26 by the assistant to the minister of agriculture, Shahrokh
Ramezan-Nejad.
However, the industry still faces serious challenges. As Ahmed Moqaddasi, head
of the Guild Association of Livestock Breeders, explained, Iran imports 100,000
tons of red meat annually, while the overall demand stands at 880,000 tons. As a
result, domestic suppliers suffer from low purchasing prices. Moqaddasi believes
the authorities should apply measures to limit imports.
Iran produced 820,000
tons of red meat, he said.
An estimated 100,000 tons
bypassed any official statistical data and this, added
to the 100,000 tons of imports and current production volumes, compounded
the oversupply problem.