Pope’s trip to Iraq
Pope Francis, on a historic trip to Iraq, will on Saturday hold a meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, seeking to deepen his dialogue with Muslim leaders, AFP wrote.
Iranian Oil Ministry plans to conduct 42 projects in collaboration with domestic universities, said the deputy oil minister for engineering, research and technology.
The projects will be conducted in upstream, downstream, and oil-related industries, according to Saeid Mohammadi, Shana reported.
“The purpose of these projects and research cooperation is for the universities and research institutes to work alongside the oil industry on a long-term basis,” he told the press on the sidelines of a visit to a technology estate in Khorasan Razavi Province.
In addition to such collaborations, he added, the required licenses have been issued for the establishment of the Oil and Gas Industry Innovation and Technology Park, which will provide a platform for the cooperation between the country’s technological and commercial sectors.
“The purpose of this technology park is to communicate with the country’s new technology-based firms (NTBFS), and also to support the startups,” he said.
Since the reimposition of the US sanctions, Iran has been encouraging domestic companies, universities, and research institutes’ presence in its oil and gas projects in all sectors including research, exploration, and development sectors.
Mohammadi also said that for the development of new technologies related to the oil industry, an Oil Research and Innovation Fund was established.
The fund will act as one of the main pillars for supporting new ideas and products in the oil industry, said the deputy oil minister.