Located in the strategic Persian Gulf, South Pars is shared between Iran and the tiny emirate of Qatar.

Phases IX and X of South Pars gas development projects are expected to become operational this winter, said director of phases, Morteza Emami.
Talking to ISNA on Saturday, the official stated that executive operations of the projects have shown close to 81 percent progress.
In the offshore section, he elaborated, the projects have been completed by 90 percent while about 89 percent of operations related to installation of platforms and 90 percent of pipe-laying are complete.
The official added that physical progress for onshore operations has been 76 percent.
The contract on the phases, worth $1.59 billion, was signed by the National Iranian Oil Company and a consortium of South Korean engineering companies, Oil Industries’ Engineering and Construction Company as well as Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company.
The plan is country’s first gas development project signed in the finance mode in such huge volume.
Some 62 percent of the project is being implemented by Iranian experts and about 38 percent by foreign specialists.
Located in the strategic Persian Gulf, South Pars--the largest known gas reserves--is shared between Iran and the tiny emirate of Qatar. It contains 1,900 TCF gas in place and 56 billion barrels of condensate in place in the shared region.
Production started from South Pars after commissioning of Phase 2 in December 2002.

Remittances sent home by overseas Iranian workers exceeded one billion dollars in 2006, as per a World Bank report.
The top UN body reported that Iran had a one-billion-dollar share in the total $21 billion remittances earned by workers of the so-called MENA states.
The MENA is comprised of 18 Middle Eastern and North African countries.
Overseas Iranian workers’ remittances edged up one billion dollars in 2005 as well.
Quoting Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, IRNA stated that Iran ranked sixth in the region. Morocco ranked first in MENA with remittances of $5.2 billion followed by Egypt ($4.5 billion), Algeria and Jordan ($2.5 billion each).
As per the report, the 21-billion-dollar remittances were earned by overseas workers of 11 out of 18 MENA states. This is while the six Persian Gulf Arab states paid $30 billion of wage to foreign laborers working in their countries.
Saudi Arabia paid the largest sums ($15 billion) followed by United Arab Emirates (six billion dollars), Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is planning to dispatch over 40,000 Iranian workers to foreign countries in the year to March 2008 since experts view this as one way of solving unemployment.

Native to Iran, Turkman horses are among the purest horse breeds.

A credit of 200 million rials has been allocated for studying the genetic features of thoroughbred Turkman horse in North Khorasan province, deputy head of provincial Agricultural Jihad Department for Livestock Affairs said.
Jamshid Garivani put the number of thoroughbred Turkman horses with identity cards at 600 province-wide, of which genetic studies would be conducted on 100, IRNA reported.
He explained that in the first phase, genetic features of the horse are to be specified by taking blood sample. Then, a microchip containing genetic data will be imbedded in the animal’s neck, he added.
Garivani continued that in the next step, tests will be conducted on the animal to complete its genetic data. The horse’s cell is to be split for the test, he pointed out.
Turkman horses in the province date back to the time of the Aryan race.
Native to Iran, Turkman horses are among the purest horse breeds. Different parts of the country are known to be the habitat for other pure horses such as the Arabian horses and Kurdish horses as well as the Caspian (Asbche-Khazar), the equine population of each in Iran stands at 1,200, 2,700 and 500 respectively.

Iran’s Comprehensive Carpet Plan will be finalized by November 21 with the aim of reorganizing the industry, facilitating export and distribution of carpet, said head of Iran National Carpet Center.
Speaking to IRNA on Sunday, Morteza Faraji said that the plan aims to promote the cultural and artistic status of and devise a strategy for Persian hand-woven carpet.
“Coordination among domestic centers of INCC and Commerce Ministry with other ministries is essential for hand-woven Persian carpet attaining its proper status, he stated.
According to Faraji, carpet weaving provides some 40 percent of the per capita income in an Iranian village with 50 households and also serves as an alternative vocation for seasonal laborers.
The official further stated that domestic weavers should try to produce rugs according to the taste of customers, adding the carpet center has planned several workshops to deal with marketing and identifying the taste of customers.
One of challenges facing Persian handmade carpets is poor marketing and the imitation of designs by rivals in Pakistan, India and China.
These factors coupled with glut of inexpensive low-quality Pakistani, Indian and Chinese carpets have badly hit the industry. However, regular customers, especially those in European countries and Germany have shown interest in quality Persian carpets rather than buy cheap poor quality rugs from Pakistan, India and China.

The number of development projects has increased by 20 percent during the current Iranian year (started March 21) against the figure for the previous year.
Announcing this, deputy interior minister for development affairs further said that presently over 80,000 development projects are underway throughout the country, IRIBNews reported.
Highlighting that all provincial development projects should be completed in the next two years, Mehdi Hashemi explained the deadline for completing national projects has been determined at between five and seven years.
Semi-finished development projects pertaining to 2005, should be completed by March 2008, he stressed.
In related news, energy minister claimed that development projects initiated by the former governments and incumbent government cost exceeded the financial resources of the government.
Parviz Fattah said that state fund is not sufficient for undertaking development projects. Therefore, non-governmental funds including private investment, foreign ventures and banking facilities should be used to complete development projects at a certain time, he pointed out.
He explained that about 400 development projects including power plants, electricity transmission lines, dam-building, irrigation canals and water treatment projects pertain to the Energy Ministry.
Stressing that larger amount of credit has been allocated to the mentioned projects, he said the government has obliged state bodies to complete all high-priority projects by the year to March 2010.
Out of the high-priority projects, 15 dams and a number of power plants with electricity generation capacity of 5,000 megawatts, power transmission lines, water supply lines and several water treatment networks are to be inaugurated by March 2008, he concluded.

Stocks of domestic companies including National Copper Industries, Kalsimin, Iran Zinc Mines Development, Bafq Mines and other firms involved in copper and zinc transactions dropped as shareholders lined up to sell their stocks.
A metal bourse expert, Hamid Mirmoini attributed the phenomenon to the collapse of stocks in global markets, adding the prices of copper and zinc shares plunged by 15 and 20 percent respectively, Fars news agency wrote.
Highlighting that the downward trend is temporary, he said US mortgage problems were behind the financial crises witnessed in global markets.
He pointed out that the central bank of the United States, Federal Reserve, lowered its interest rate to 5.75 percent on Friday.
Following the 0.5 percent decrease in interest rate, American markets including NASDAQ and Dow Jones made progresses slightly, he said, adding that as per global assessments, the fall in global stocks and price of global commodities is temporary.
Regarding the rush of shareholders to sell copper and zinc stocks, he said the inexperienced clients usually become worried of these incidents and sell their shares, leading to decrease in price of shares.
Mirmoini continued that as per analyses, global prices of commodities would rise, adding given the possibility of reduction in copper and zinc supplies another price hike would occur in global markets.
He said that there is no worry on the issue and thanks to the government’s support on stocks of companies stipulated by Article 44 of Continuation, there is no reason to rush to sell the stocks of the two metals.
Also, another expert, Hossein Khajavi, blamed the temporary downward trend to problems in US housing market, trade imbalance and budget deficit caused by Iraq war leading to decline in dollar value.
He said after the strike of Chile mining workers ended, global prices of copper declined.
Regarding the drop in price of zinc shares, he said Lead and Zinc Global Institute had anticipated two months ago that the global price of zinc would decline in the second half of 2007. The price of the metal, initially defined at $3,500 per ton, declined to $3,120 on Friday, he added.
Khajavi expressed hope that once the crises in global markets are overcome, shares of copper and zinc companies would make progress again.

In a bid to fight corruption in state organizations as pledged by the incumbent government, State Inspectorate Organization (SIO) has ordered the nullification of over 10 billion rials worth of tenders.
The tenders were annulled in provinces of Fars and Kohkilouyeh-Boyerahmad during March 21-June 21 with the cooperation of the provinces’ executive authorities, ISNA said.
Managing director of Inspectorate Department in the two provinces, Qader Jamali said that the tenders were cancelled since regulations had not been taken into account in signing them.
According to the annual survey by the Berlin-based organization Transparency International, Iran’s Corruption Perceptions Index was 2.7 percent in 2006. The score was 2.9 for 2005 which means the corruption condition worsened.
The index defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain and measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among a country’s public officials and politicians.
Since taking the office, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has embarked on plans to combat corruption in state organizations.
To this end, in May, the president ousted the managing director and members of board of directors of Iran Insurance Company as evidences proved that the company’s managing director and members of board of directors were embroiled in extensive financial wrongdoings.
Ahmadinejad asked the minister of economic affairs and finance: “Were supervisory officials asleep? How will they answer (to the public)?“
The president called on the minister to appoint reliable, committed and trustworthy people to serve in the company.
He urged prompt action to restore the rights of the public and bring changes in the structure of the company. Public should be informed of results of the measures, the president concluded.

Managing director of South Pars Petroleum and Gas Company announced that Italian oil and gas company Eni and Iranian South Pars Oil and Gas Company are holding talks on a new LNG project.
Akbar Torkan told Fars news agency on Friday that negotiations on participation of the Italian company in phases XVIII, XX and XXI of South Pars gas development projects have made progress.
Iranian side has proposed to the Italian firm to become involved in the three phases of LNG project, the official explained.
He noted that once an agreement is reached, Iran and Italy will sign a buyback contract.
In April, Torkan announced his company’s plan to double foreign and domestic investments in gas development projects in the current Iranian year to March 2008.
The official said his company plans to raise investments to four billion dollars from last year’s $2.7 billion. South Pars is home to the world’s largest offshore gas field.
Investments will be attracted via new buy-back contracts, the official said, adding that several giant oil companies have shown interest in participating in tenders for phases 22 and 24 of the major South Pars gas field development project.

Cargoes moving between the main markets in Europe, Scandinavia, the CIS, Russia and Iran are increasingly using the Astara Transit Terminal, on the border between Azerbaijan and Iran, as a favored route.
Advance International originally headquartered in London, arranges the forwarding of Iranian glass shipments by truck to the terminal and then by rail to various destinations in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independence States).
Until this switch, 40 percent of manufactured glass shipments were damaged, as there are many transshipment points and different modes of transport, which increase the likelihood of breakages, Advance International president Jawad Kamel told IRNA.
“Now, the same shipments via Astara Transit Terminal, can be delivered from the Iranian factory to final destination in just five days and with only one transshipment,“ he said.
Previously, it took up to 10 weeks in winter or 50 days in summer.
A further advantage of Astara Terminal, which is a member of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industries, is the export of all types of cargoes by road to Astara and from Astara by rail to Russia and all other CIS and European countries.
Advance, which is now based in Istanbul, said the previous main supply corridor by rail from Western Europe to Iran was disrupted by the Azerbaijan-Armenia dispute, forcing cargoes to be re-routed by sea to the Persian Gulf or by road via Turkey.
“All of these alternatives are either more costly or not as efficient for shippers in Iran which are out for more freight capacity on routes to and from Europe,“ said Kamel.
“The new Astara Transit Terminal heralds the return of a vital Central Asian transport artery giving shippers faster transit times, as well as more direct and secure service,“ he said.
The terminal, which was redeveloped and reopened on the Caspian Sea last year, is reportedly also proving its worth to Iranian importers.
It is also being used as a transit for exports to Iraq.