Jashnsaz Appointed As Head Of NIOC, Assemipour Resigns
Seifollah Jashnsaz has been appointed managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), taking over from Gholamhossein Nozari, who was appointed Minister of Petroleum last year (MEES, 19 November 2007). Mr Jashnsaz was managing director of NIOC’s largest subsidiary, the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), a role previously undertaken by Mr Nozari before his own promotion to head of NIOC. NISOC estimates its oil production capacity at 3.29mn b/d, out of a total NIOC crude oil production capacity of 4.2mn b/d. Before joining NISOC, Mr Jashnsaz was head of the National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC), having earlier been director of drilling at NISOC and the head of oil export operations at the Kharg Island terminal.
MEESunderstands that NIOC has not yet decided on a replacement for Mr Jashnsaz at NISOC. The Ministry of Petroleum’s PIN news website on 2 March said that Mr Jashnsaz’s priorities at NIOC would include the expansion of Iran’s oil and gas production capacity and reserves, the development of shared oil and gas fields, the formation of a ‘gas OPEC’ (the Organization of Gas Exporting Countries), the privatization of downstream oil operations, and the expansion of Iran’s recently opened oil bourse (MEES, 25 February).
Meanwhile, NIOC Vice-President Mohammad Assemipour tendered his resignation in a letter to Mr Nozari. He is understood to be returning to an academic position at Iran’s Petroleum University of Technology, where he lectured before joining NIOC. Besides his role in NIOC, he served on the board of a number of subsidiaries, including NISOC, the Iranian Offshore Oilfields Company, NIDC, and the North Drilling Company.
Copyright MEES 2008.
