Iran announces oil ministry shake-up

Tehran: Opec heavyweight Iran announced a shake-up in its key Oil Ministry yesterday, with new faces taking five deputy minister posts, including one which is responsible for running state oil company NIOC.

Scores of senior personnel changes have swept through the government since Mohammad Ahmadinejad became president in August pledging to stamp out corruption and redistribute oil wealth to the poor.

Changes by the world's fourth biggest crude oil exporter have been slower in coming in the oil department due to Ahmadinejad's difficulties appointing a new minister.

Three candidates were rejected by parliament or withdrew after criticism of their lack of experience before Kazem Vaziri-Ham-aneh, a veteran ministry insider, was approved last month.

The Oil Ministry announced that Gholamhossein Nozari replaced Mehdi Mirmoezi as deputy minister and managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

Nozari had previously held the post of head of NIOC subsidiary the Central Iran Oil Company.

The Oil Ministry said on its web site that Vaziri-Hamaneh told the new NIOC chief "to focus on oil and gas recovery, accelerate development of the fields shared by Iran and its neighbours and expedite exploration projects."

Fast depletion rates in its ageing fields and complaints by foreign oil companies that its exploration contracts are unattractive have left Opec's second largest producer struggling to boost output capacity beyond its current level of around 4.2 million barrels per day.

During his election campaign Ahmadinejad said the Oil Ministry was dominated by a corrupt "mafia" that must be rooted out, sparking fears among oil executives of wholesale changes and an influx of inexperienced outsiders to the ministry.

But Vaziri-Hamaneh, who served as caretaker oil minister between August and December has said he is unaware of the presence of a corrupt clique in the ministry.

"I do not believe in radical moves, I believe in slow, calculated and logical moves," he told the Sharq newspaper in an interview last month. "If I change a person, the one who replaces him should be capable."

Analysts said the appointments were mostly positive for foreign firms. Some foreign companies have feared radical changes to buy-back contracts under which they operate Iranian oilfields for about seven years and get a share of output.