Leaders of Iran’s oil and gas industry confident short-lived political conflicts not to disrupt long-term growth

The Business Year (TBY), an international media group specializing in emerging markets, recently talked to the top management of three major national Iranian oil companies: The Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC), and the Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) to size up the sector for TBY’S upcoming edition, Iran 2018: Special Report.

Questions regarding the future of JCPOA have led to uncertainties about the prospects of Iran’s energy sector. However, the leaders of the industry remain unflustered and optimistic. Expressing his company’s determination to explore new horizons, Abolghasem Rahmani, the managing director of IOEC, points out that even if another round of sanctions is on the way, the maintenance of Iran’s widespread offshore and onshore oil facilities will keep most of the sector busy.

Hamid Bovard, CEO of IOOC, whose company operated under far more challenging conditions during the Iraniraq war in the 1980s, takes a similar stance and adds, “the oil industry’s greatest asset, its well-trained, dedicated, and highly talented personnel, will carry it forward come what may.”

The EU, the UK, and Iran all agree that the JCPOA should be kept intact and alive. However, the decisionmakers in Iran’s oil and gas industry will not lose heart even if the worst-case scenario comes to pass. Reza Dehghan, Chairman of PEDEC, observes “fortunately, the sector’s wealth of human resources is matched by Iran’s wealth of natural resources,” and sooner or later it will be business as usual.

These comments were issued as part of the research TBY is currently undertaking for its upcoming Special Report on Iran. Gill Harris, TBY’S Managing Editor for Middle East & Africa added, “Iran is no stranger to challenges on the international level. However, adversity breeds innovation, and as we look across the board at all TBY’S areas of research, evidence suggests this is the case in Iran. We are looking forward to the imminent release of our Iran 2018: Special Report, which will shine a spotlight on the oil & gas sector, as well as other areas of interest.”