from declining, as it has been doing in recent years.
Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi told an international conference that improved access to technology for oil-producing countries is one of the best ways to ensure a constant supply of energy in the years ahead.
“This will lead to a win-win situation for the supply-and-demand future,” said Qasemi.
He did not specify what technologies he was looking for. But it is unlikely he will get any, at least while the Tehran regime maintains its antagonistic stance toward the West.
It has become common in recent years for companies such as Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron and others to assist state-run oil companies from Africa, Brazil and the Middle East with state-of-the art drilling and production techniques.
This dynamic is not unique to the oil business; it happens with many industries that are looking to gain access to markets or minerals.
The techniques or technologies could include more advanced drilling, the use of high-tech seismic imaging, or equipment to maintain pressure in older wells that increases oil output.
Sharing these technologies with other countries has given Big Oil access to the huge oil deposits in many of the world’s oil-rich nations or large consumer markets in the developing world. It’s also helping many of the state-run firms become world-class oil companies in their own right.
But Iran has largely been left out of this exchange, and its oil output has suffered as a result.
Most major oil companies would be eager to help Iran increase production, especially if it meant greater access to the country’s fossil fuel wealth.
But Western firms, which generally have the world’s best oil-field technology, have largely been kept on the sidelines thanks to the sanctions.
The comments from Iran’s oil minister came at the opening session of the World Petroleum Congress, a week-long gathering of industry executives and government officials held every three years, this time in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar.