Minister of Energy Parviz Fattah inaugurated on Friday a project to construct a power plant in Aliabad Katoul in the northern province of Golestan.
Speaking at the ceremony, the minister said that the power plant, which is to be built at a cost of over 4,000 billion rials, will have the capacity to generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity, the Persian daily ’Iran’ reported.
He stated that once the power plant becomes operational it will not only meet a part of national demand but will also be able to export electricity.
Describing the construction of the power plant as a national project, Fattah hoped that the plant will be completed by domestic experts.
He was further quoted by IRNA as saying that total nationwide electricity output will reach 208 billion kilowatt/hours by March 2008.
The minister estimated an eight-percent rise in electricity generation capacity this year.
He noted that almost all the 70-million population have access to electricity while only a few remote regions are not linked to the power grid.
Speaking at the same gathering, Golestan governor general, Yahya Mahmoudzadeh, said that Golestan is among the few provinces which lacked power plant. The power plant, he said, will help the development of provincial infrastructure and economy, he underlined.
“Today, executive operations of a power plant have begun that it will produce 700 megawatts of electricity for provincial use and 300 megawatts for export to other provinces or neighboring countries,“ he said.
Mahmoudzadeh noted that some 2,000 people will be employed to implement the project and this will help reduce Golestan’s unemployment rate.
The power plant, covering an area of 42 hectares, is to be built by two Iranian companies in 36 months.

Malaysian state oil firm Petronas is ’very happy’ with its investment in Iran and is looking for more deals in the upstream, despite the geopolitical risks, its top executive said Friday.
Hassan Marican said the firm had no intention of selling down its 10 percent stake in the multi-billion-dollar Pars Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project led by Total, the Malaysian Business Times reported.
French oil major Total and Petronas will make a final investment decision on the project this year, he said.
“We’re very happy. We’re there in Iran and we’ve been there since 1994,“ Marican said.
Echoing officials of Total, Marican vowed to forge ahead despite US pressure on its allies not to invest in Iran.
Although Petronas halved its stake in the project to 10 percent two years ago, it has no intention of selling down further, he said.
Total holds 40 percent and the National Iranian Oil Company has the other half.
“Iran is one of the focus countries that we’ve identified and we continue to evaluate opportunities in the upstream sector in particular,“ he said adding, “Off and on we make proposals to the Iranian government for an opportunity to invest.“
Asked whether any deals were imminent, he said: “Nothing to announce at this moment.“
Total and Petronas first agreed on the LNG project in 2004 with a target start date of 2009, which has since been deferred to 2011.
Iran’s deputy oil minister, Gholamhossein Nozari told reporters on June 2 that the French energy giant has been asked to reevaluate prices as the price it quoted for building the first export terminal for liquefied natural gas was high.
The official elaborated, “Since the figures given by the French energy group were high, we’ve (Oil Ministry) asked the company to revise the tender within a reasonable period.“
He hoped that the deal will be finalized within the next two months to reach the process of decision-making for investment.

As of May 22, gasoline is being sold at 1,000 rials per liter at filling stations through smartcards.

Contradictory reports are coming in from senior government officials and Majlis deputies about the program to ration gasoline. One of the latest remarks was made by a member of the Majlis Presiding Board.
According to IRIBNews, Hamid Reza Hajbabei announced on Saturday that gasoline rationing will begin from June 21. The parliamentarian, however, stated that the quota per vehicle is still unclear.
It is not certain yet whether the government will sell gasoline outside the rationing system.
Majlis approved a ratification in late March authorizing the government to increase the price of gasoline to 1,000 rials (11 cents) per liter from 800 (less than eight cents) rials per liter through smartcards. The Parliament also obliged the government to implement a rationing program from May 22.
Lawmakers permitted the government to determine the price of gasoline sold in excess of the rationed quota.
As of May 22, gasoline is being sold at 1,000 rials per liter at filling stations through smartcards. However gasoline rationing was delayed since all drivers had not received smartcards. Asked why the program has not yet been implemented, he said that the government has so far faced problems in enforcing the rationing system.
This is while chairman of the Majlis Energy Commission said late May that the Parliament may scrap the plan to ration gasoline.
Kamal Daneshyar, who represents Mahshahr, Khuzestan province in the Parliament, stated that lawmakers are mulling a proposal on a double-urgency plan to delay or even do away with gasoline rationing.
Daneshyar’s remarks came a few days after the interior minister said gasoline rationing scheme will be implemented in two weeks.
On May 22, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi told reporters, “All the smartcards will be distributed in the next 10-15 days making it possible to commence the rationing scheme.“

Government will purchase more than one million tons of surplus wheat from farmers.

Agricultural Jihad Minister has forecast that wheat production will exceed 15 million tons by the end of the current harvest season.
Speaking at a gathering of Sattarkhan Dam constructors in Ahar, East Azarbaijan, Mohammad Reza Eskandari stated that the ground is prepared for the export of wheat.
Putting the country’s annual demand for wheat at over 11 million tons, the minister said that the government will purchase more than one million tons of surplus wheat from farmers, IRIBNews said.
Expressing satisfaction with the condition of the agricultural sector, Eskandari stated that the sector is moving ahead of targets set in the Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2005-2010).
It is projected that the growth in the agro sector will reach seven percent in the year to March. A 10-percent growth in investments is also planned.
The minister recalled that over $2.1 billion of crops was exported during the year to March 2007. “If this growth rate continues, the figures will reach more than $2.5 billion during 2008-9 fiscal year.“
Stating that private sector investment in the sector is on the rise, he recalled that investments made by private investors increased to 10 percent in the year to March 2007 from five percent in the year to March 2005.
The minister pledged support for private investments in the agro sector to facilitate the implementation of the Article 44 of the Constitution which seeks large-scale privatization in key economic areas.
In November, the nation will celebrate the ’Wheat Feast’ to mark the third consecutive year of self-sufficiency.
Wheat self-sufficiency bill, passed by parliament in 2001, was actually implemented a year later. The law, among other things, called for sound farm management and employment for 4,000 agricultural graduates, expansion of mechanized wheat farms and providing improved seeds to farmers.

Iran has been included on the ’White List’ by the Paris MOU at its 40th meeting last month, Ports and Shipping Organization (PSO) reported.
The Paris Memorandum of Understanding’s ’White List’ represents those quality flags with a consistently low detention record.
Iran shipping and marine fleets ranked tenth among 37 flag states included in the ’White List’ in view of its close observance of international marine safety standards and conservation of sea environment, IRNA quoted PSO’s Public Relations Office as reporting on Saturday.
The PSO said Iran’s ranking in shipping inspections has improved as a result of its thorough examination of vessels as they leave Iranian waters.
Names of countries such as China, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States are also seen on the list.
The Paris MOU, an administrative agreement between the maritime authorities of seventeen European countries and Canada, covers the waters of European coastal states and the North Atlantic basin from North America to Europe. The body aims at eliminating the operation of sub-standard ships through a harmonized system of port state control.
Annually over 20.000 inspections take place on board foreign ships in the Paris MOU ports, ensuring that these ships meet international safety, securityÊand environmental standards, and that crew members have adequate living and working conditions.

OPEC members will not increase production because of the rise in global oil prices, an official said.
Talking to Mehr on Wednesday, head of the Oil Ministry’s OPEC Affairs Division, Javad Yarjani added that none of the members have so far sought an emergency meeting to consider the issue.
In the last OPEC meeting in March, officials decided not to discuss the matter until the next session in Vienna on September 11.
“The OPEC secretariat and oil ministers from OPEC member states have analyzed the situation and concluded that there is no need to increase production to bring down prices.“
He blamed geopolitical issues and low gasoline supply for the hike in prices and said, “It is true that the driving season has started in the US, which is the largest oil consumer, but the high prices are not because of the shortfalls of crude oil supply but rather due to insufficient capacity in the downstream sector of the country’s oil industry.“
The increase in prices is not linked to crude oil supply he reiterated adding, “Therefore, OPEC should not take any measures to supply more oil.“
In May, OPEC produced some 30 million barrels of crude per day including the production of Angola and Iraq.
According to unofficial reports Iran’s crude oil production reached 3.85 million barrels per day, while official reports suggest a higher figure.

Construction of an auto manufacturing factory in Kaboudarahang, Hamedan province has begun, city’s governor announced on Saturday.
Isa Jafari told ISNA that the factory is financed by the private sector.
The factory, once operational, will initially manufacture ambulances under license from Germany’s auto giant Volkswagen, he said, adding that in subsequent phases, Iran Khodro will cooperate with the factory.
Jafari noted that the government will supervise the construction of the factory which will be built at a cost of 90 billion rials and a hard currency component of $1.5 million. It will eventually be operated by the private sector.

Some $20 million has been invested in 18 mine development projects which are currently underway in the aluminum, steel and copper sectors.

Credits worth 500 billion rials have been allocated for mineral exploration in the current year, some 200 billion rials more than the amount earmarked last year, an official said on Saturday.
Head of Iran’s Mining Industry Development and Renovation Organization told IRNA while visiting Sangan iron ore mines in the eastern city of Khwaf, South Khorasan province that some $20 million has been invested in 18 mine development projects which are currently underway in the aluminum, steel and copper sectors. “These projects are to be completed within the next three years,“ he added.
Ahmad Harati-Nik pointed to the importance of mine exploration projects and said, “We have removed the budget ceiling and made it our policy to give top priority to these projects.“
He added, “We will even hold up other projects if we have to.“
Referring to the ’Comprehensive Steel Project’, he further said the country should produce 29 million tons of steel for which 45 million tons of iron ore will be required.
With an estimated 1.2 billion tons of iron ore, Sangan mines are considered the largest in the Middle East.
Harati-Nik, who is also the deputy minister of industries and mines, noted that the ministry is pursuing measures to neutralize the impacts of sanctions by indigenizing the technology for steel and aluminum industries.
“The aluminum industry is one of the main fields we are working on,“ he said, adding, “We welcome and support private investments in the sector.“
In line with government policies to export technical services, Harati-Nik said, Iran will establish cement factories in Venezuela and Cuba. He added that the cement factory established by Iran in Syria will open in two months.

The first exhibition of Iranian construction materials and interior decoration equipment will officially open in Dubai on Monday.
Some 35 Iranian companies will display their products in different sectors varying from tile and ceramics, decorative building stones to plaster, cement, pipes and fittings as well as equipment and material for wood processing industry and technical and engineering services at the show to be held from June 11 to 13 at the Dubai Exhibition Center.
The event’s executive director, Mehdi Saeedozakerin told IRNA on Saturday this is the first time Iranian companies involved in the building and construction sector are holding such an exhibition in the UAE.
“The exhibition can contribute greatly to boosting non-oil exports and providing an opportunity for Iranian engineers and architects as well as producers of construction materials to demonstrate their capabilities,“ he added.
UAE contactors and investors have been invited to the exhibition to observe the progress made by Iranian companies in the sector.
Floating capital for housing projects and the construction sector in the UAE top an annual $200 billion.