Iran has exported more than 2.8 million refinery installation parts to Venezuela to revitalize the refineries in the Latin American country, according to Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji.
Owji made the comments few hours after the two countries signed several oil contracts in Venezuela on Tuesday which happened simultaneous with a visit to Caracas by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his accompanying delegation.
With 17.5% of the total world oil reserves, Venezuela sits on the largest oil reserves of the world, the minister said.
He added that Venezuela has four refineries with a capacity of 1.4 million barrels per day which have been lying idle due to the sanctions and withdrawal of specialized workforce.
Senior Iranian and Venezuelan officials pose for a photo after signing several oil cooperation contracts in Caracas, Venezuela, June 13, 2023.
The minister also said that Venezuela has a 12 million mt of installed capacity of ammonia, urea, and poly ethylene which paves the ground for cooperation in the area of petrochemical industry between the two nations.
At a joint press conference of the presidents of Iran and Venezuela in Caracas a day earlier, Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi said that Iran and Venezuela have the capacity to increase their annual trade exchanges to $20 billion.