The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said in a statement that the Philippines was negotiating with Iran over imports of 4 million barrels of oil per month.

The NIOC added that this had been raised during a visit to Tehran by Pedro Aquino, the head of the Philippines National Oil Company (PNOC).

NIOC’s statement quoted Aquino as saying that he had raised the prospects for the PNOC to win projects in the upstream section of Iran’s oil industry in his meetings with the country’s officials. 

He added that his company was interested in investing in Iran’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) industry, as well.

Aquino further emphasized that the PNOC is planning to construct a refinery with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), adding that his company was negotiating with several international oil companies including the NIOC to provide the feed for its planned refinery.

The PNOC is one of the 11 companies in a consortium of international companies, known as Pergas, which has signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) for carrying out studies over two oilfields in Iran.

Based on the deal, the consortium will have 6 months to hand over the result of its studies on the fields to the NISOC. Pergas may submit its proposal for development of the fields sooner if it is ready, Press TV reported.

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