The mainchanges targeted CEOs of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), National IranianGas Company (NIGC) and National Petrochemical Company (NPC).

Furthermore,three New Board members were replaced at NIOC whose CEO appointed a replacementto Bijan Alipour at the head of National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC).

**MasoudKarbasian, New NIOC Chief

MasoudKarbasian took over from Ali Kardor at NIOC. In a letter appointing Karbasian,Zangeneh highlighted his experience at high economic and executive levels,saying: “I expect you to have constructive instruction with NIOC Board ofDirectors in implementing projects and carrying out the significant obligationsassigned to NIOC particularly in the conditions of sanctions."

Before beingappointed to this post, Karbasian was minister of economy and finance. Heserved in other posts like head of Iran Customs Administration, deputy ministerof petroleum for commercial affairs, deputy minister of commerce for foreigncommerce, deputy minister of commerce for planning and deputy minister of heavyindustries.

Karbasianhas pledged to put into practice options of countering international sanctionsas long as he would be in the post.

"Inthis regard, certain policies have been made at the level of Ministry ofPetroleum, the government and the Islamic Republic. Their implementation wouldhelp blunt the unfavorable impact of sanctions," he said.

**New NIOCBoard Members

NIOC DeputyCEO for Engineering and Development Gholam-Reza Manouchehri and director ofPetroleum Ministry's debt collection committee Ali Asghar Hendi also bowed outas Board members due to retirement. They were replaced by Saeed Khoshroo andZahra Goudarzi as NIOC Board Members.

ZahraGoudarzi is the first Iranian woman to be named NIOC Board member. She hasstudied international trade and petroleum law from two Iranian and a Scottishuniversity. She has already served as contracts and legal suits expert at theNIOC Directorate of Legal Affairs, member of Oil Contract RestructuringCommittee and senior legal negotiator in upstream Oil contracts.

Khoshroo,who is currently deputy head of NIOC for international affairs, has studiedeconomy at the universities of Tehran and Isfahan. For more than 20 years, hehas been engaged in various sectors of petroleum industry. He has been with theNIOC international affairs department for ten years now.

His mostimportant positions so far include deputy head for marking petroleum products,director of petroleum products and gas condensate at NIOC office in China, gascondensate sales manager and petroleum products pricing director.

**New NIGCBoss

Zangenehalso named Hassan Montazer Torbati as the New CEO of Iran's state-run gas firmNIGC. Torbati, a graduate of the Amir Kabir University of Technology, hadearlier served as director of NIGC dispatching, director of NIGC consolidatedplanning and director of Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company.

He hasunderscored generation of wealth and expansion of gas supply as objectives ofNIGC, saying: "Huge gas resources in the country, high-voltage lines and giantrefineries alongside gas distribution companies prepare the ground for theproduction, transmission and distribution of natural gas in Iran."

**New NPCChief

Zangenehalso named Behzad Mohammadi as CEO of NPC, expressing hope for thematerialization of the second jump in petrochemical production in Iran throughuse of financial resources available in the country and consulting experts inlight of the abundance and diversity of petrochemical feedstock.

Other pointshighlighted in Zangeneh's letter of appointment for Mohammadi include increasedexports and completion of petrochemical industry value chain by supportingbalanced development between midstream and downstream petrochemicalindustries. 

Mohammadihas studied chemical engineering at the University of Shiraz. He earlier servedas CEO of Oil Industries Engineering and Construction Company (OIEC), OilIndustries Commissioning and Operation Company (OICO), director ofcommissioning for SP9 and SP10 at OIEC and R&D manager of FarabiPetrochemical Company.

**New DeputyMinister Named

Veteran Oilmanager Rokneddin Javadi, who was serving as deputy minister of petroleum forsupervision on hydrocarbon resources, was replaced by Mohsen Paknejad.

In theletter of appointment for Paknejad, the focus is on the necessity of enhancingrecovery from operating fields.

Paknejad isa graduate of Amir Kabir University of Technology. His previous positionsinclude advisor to minister of petroleum, head of ministerial committee forsupervision on fuel supply, director of gas fields development, director ofsupervision on Oil products exports and technical inspection of Ministry ofPetroleum, Board Member of the Iran Central Oil Fields Company (ICOFC),director of consolidated planning at NIOC, director-general of supervision onpetroleum products exports at petroleum ministry and CEO of Iran Oil CommercialCompany.

**New NIOCAppointments

The New headof NIOC, Karbasian, appointed Ahmad Mohammadi at the head of NISOC.

In theletter of appointment for Mohammadi, Karbasian laid emphasis on such points asreviewing the structure and methods with a view to bringing about transparency,facilitating and accelerating accomplishment of tasks, creating opportunitiesfor specialized and committed manpower, development of education for the staffat all levels, prioritizing development projects with a focus on jointly ownedfields, attention to development of and maximum efficient recovery from Oil andgas reservoirs, enhancing production capacity and output, retrofitting existinginstallations and making necessary arrangements for flexibility in productionbased on plans and obligations as well as crude Oil export needs.

Karbasian alsonamed Jahangir Pourhang as CEO of Arvandan Oil and Gas Production Company,stressing the need for the reconsideration of structure to handle 1 mb/d Oilproduction, planning for maximum engagement of local manpower in KhuzestanProvince and coordination with the Petroleum Engineering and DevelopmentCompany (PEDEC). 

Karbasianalso named Abdollah Mousavi as the CEO of National Iranian Drilling Company(NIDC), calling on him to make plans for boosting drilling efficiency andreducing waiting time, benefiting from knowledge-based companies anduniversities, applying modern drilling methods, supporting domesticmanufacturing and upgrading domestic manufacturing in the drilling industry,particularly in HSP.

Courtesy ofIran Petroleum

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