Rebel News - Independent News and Analysis

The deputy head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said Tuesday the company is studying 22 oil and gas development contracts with foreign companies.

"Negotiations over four of the contracts are [almost] concluded," Hojatollah Ghanimifard told Fars news agency. "By finalizing these contracts, the Oil Ministry will accomplish all its contractual commitments under the country's fourth development plan."

Iran's gas exports will show a 35-percent rise in the current Iranian calendar year (ending March 20) compared with last year, says a senior energy official.

This is while the country's gas imports will show a decrease of 25 percent compared with the previous year, Iran's deputy energy minister said, IRNA reported.

The head of the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) says a European company is to invest in Iran's Lavan gas field in the Persian Gulf.

"The technical and investment details of the development plan of Lavan gas field have been agreed between Iran and the European firm," Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh told Shana news agency on Monday.

An Iranian oil official says the world's oil industry executives and experts consider 100 dollars a barrel to be a fair price for crude in today's market.

"The average price of crude in the international market has been $75 a barrel since the beginning of the year, when its fair price should be around $100 a barrel," Iran's envoy to OPEC, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, told Mehr News Agency on Monday.

Iran's Pars Oil and Gas Company has issued one billion dollars worth of bonds in euros as part of an overall plan to fund the South Pars project.

The POGC's parent company, the National Iranian Oil Company, has guaranteed a return of up to eight percent on the bonds and says there is no risk involved in the investment.

Saudi Arabia plans to take further steps to open up the Arab world's largest bourse to foreign investors, a senior Saudi official said.

"We want to study new ways through which foreign investors can enter," the head of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) said.

Iranian researchers are set to develop 41 types of anti-cancer medications over the next six months.

"Previously a limited number of countries were able to produce these drugs," said Mohammad Mokhber, an Iranian medical official, stressing that Iranian researchers hope not only to produce these chemotherapy agents for the first time in the country but also to reduce their side-effects.

Iran and China have reached a $143 million deal that allows a Chinese company to set up a drilling rig in the Persian Gulf.

The contract has been signed by Iran's North Drilling Company (NDCO) and China Petroleum Technology Development Corporation (CPTDC), NDCO chief Hedayatollah Khademi said.

Iran has selected the investors for developing five oil and gas refineries worth $11.7 billion, a report has announced.

"The investors for setting up the five refineries, namely, the Persian Gulf Star, Hormoz, Pars Petrofield, Anahita and Khuzestan refineries, have been selected and it is predicted that the investors for the Caspian and Shariar refineries will be chosen in the near future," Mehr news agency reported on Saturday.

Iran's Airport Police Chief Brigadier General Nabiollah Heidari says 737 kilograms of various kinds of drugs have been seized this year.

“Iranian airport police has seized a total of 737 kilograms of various kinds of drugs in the country's airports this year,” IRNA quoted General Heidari as saying on Thursday.