TEHRAN - Iran has signed a 1.6 billion euro contract with a Spanish company to manufacture high-tech equipment and components for its oil and gas industry.
Iran's Society of Iranian Petroleum Industries Equipment Manufacturers (SIPIEM) signed the contract with the Spanish company, the Mehr News Agency reported on Tuesday.
The SIPIEM also signed another contract with a Chinese company to transfer technology to Iranian oil industry, the report added.
Iranian manufacturers have the potential to supply the oil industry with $20 billion worth of domestically-made goods and equipment this year, which began on March 20, an official with the SIPIEM said on April 14.
"If this happens, more than 60 percent of the equipment needed for the oil industry will be domestically procured," Hassan Kazemi noted.
Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has said that the economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic will not be effective enough to hinder progress of the country's oil industry.
Qasemi stressed the importance of making use of "the great capabilities" of Iranian experts, adding that Iran has used them to nullify the impacts of Western sanctions.
"Sanctions against Iran's oil sector have failed and will not block the progress and development of the industry," Qasemi said on Monday, Press TV reported.
The U.S. and EU have imposed financial and oil sanctions against Iran since the beginning of 2012, claiming that the country's nuclear energy program includes a military component.
Tehran refutes such allegations, noting that frequent inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency have failed to prove any diversion in Iran's nuclear energy program toward military purposes.
© Tehran Times 2012
