The Oil Ministry and the Iran Privatization Organization (IPO) are in talks to reach an agreement on transferring the shares of the refineries to the private sector, said Minolta Eskandari, a director at the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company.
According to press tv, article 44 of the Iranian Constitution stipulates that the country's economic system shall be based on public, cooperative and private sectors.
All large-scale industries, mother industries, foreign trade, large mines, banking, insurance, power supply, dams and large irrigation channels, radio and television, post, telegraph and telephone, aviation, shipping, roads, rails, refineries and the like are public property and under the guidance of the government.
A 2004 amendment to the Article, however, has set in motion a ten-year plan to privatize eighty percent of Iran's state-owned assets.
Iranian refineries currently need around 12 billion dollars to renovate their facilities and increase output.
Eskandari says the revenues of the privatizations would be spent for development and completion of other oil refinery projects.
"Iran has invested 15 billion euros to build seven new refineries," said Eskandari last year. "Seven billion dollars are also allocated to boost the capacity of the existing refineries."
The country's refining capacity, he said, could double to 3.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2012 from the current 1.56 million bpd.
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