Iran unveils $5.6bn worth of key energy projects
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has rolled out $5.6bn worth of energy projects the country, a fresh sign that American sanctions have failed to cause a minimum halt to the expansion of the Iranian oil and gas sector.
The five projects unveiled by Rouhani on Monday were worth 4.7 billion euros ($5.6 billion) according to a report by the official IRNA news agency, which said that private investors had contributed to a part of finances needed to finish the development schemes.
The projects included two gas transfer pipelines that would carry natural gas from production facilities on the Persian Gulf to western and northwestern regions of Iran for the purpose of domestic consumption and export.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the pipelines and a dispatching station also unveiled on Monday had cost $3.66 billion, including $1.5 billion in finances provided by private investors.
A $1.57-billion petrochemical plant in the city of Bushehr, on the Persian Gulf, and a $377-million power plant meat to supply electricity to expanding oil production facilities near the Iraqi border in Khuzestan province, also came on line on Monday.