TEHRAN – Iran’s Petroleum Minister Mohsen Paknejad and Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and Minister of Oil Hayan Abdul-Ghani Al-Sawad on Monday signed a
Memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and agreements in the field of expertise exchange and joint cooperations.
Paknejad started his two-day visit on Monday at the invitation of his Iraqi counterpart.
The Iraqi and Iranian sides held a meeting during which mechanisms for cooperation between the two countries in various sectors were discussed. 
The agreements to pave the way to transfer feed for domestic natural gas liquids (NGL) units from fields near the Iran-Iraq border into the country.
 The Iraqi minister noted that his country has promising gas investment projects and is working to achieve self-sufficiency in petroleum derivatives.
 For his part, Paknejad said, “We have very good interactions and relations with Iraq in various fields. Cooperation between the two countries, especially in the oil industry and the implementation of oil projects, is currently underway.”
He also said that given the cultural, religious and historical commonalities between Iran and Iraq, as well as favorable conditions for cooperation, joint efforts in the oil sector have begun. Some of these efforts relate to previously signed agreements between the two countries, and this visit included steps to implement those agreements.
Paknejad noted that part of the agreements involves exploration in the sea using the capabilities of Iranian companies, with a joint working group preparing the groundwork for implementation. He added that in western Iran, NGL facilities—which use associated gas from crude oil as feedstock—face shortages. Meanwhile, Iraq burns some of this associated gas from fields near the Iranian border after extraction. As a result, the two countries signed an agreement to transfer this gas into Iran as feedstock for NGL units, with private sector investment.
The oil minister emphasized that another part of the agreements includes the joint development of the Khorramshahr field, which is shared with Iraq’s Sindbad field. Preparations for this project will be reviewed by technical committees before moving to the implementation phase.
In March, Paknejad and Iraq’s Electricity Minister Ziad Ali Fadhil discussed in Tehran the development of cooperation in the fields of oil, gas, petrochemicals and electricity.
The Iranian minister added the importance of continuing relations between the two countries in all fields.