Secretary of the Summit Message
The second summit on introducing investment opportunities in Qeshm Island, focusing on oil, gas, petrochemical and energy projects, was held in Tehran with officials, experts and supervisors. This year’s summit focused on “Providing Financial Plans and Projects despite Sanctions” as well as “Examining the execution Challenges of Qeshm Oil, Gas, Petrochemical and Energy Projects” on January 14th. The goals of the summit are “Introducing Investment Opportunities in Qeshm Oil, Gas, Petrochemical and Energy”, connecting “Finance and Investment Activists”, “Domestic Knowledge Holders” as well as “Contractors of the Country” with Qeshm intents.
With structural reforms such as providing required feed serious suspenision, the situation has become such that Qeshm is now regarded as Iran’s energy hub and one of the region’s petrochemical hubs. Given the effective cooperation of the Ministry of Petroleum Complex to supply feedstock in the field of refineries, petrochemicals, storage, power plants and other projects, with a further investment of more than $ 13 billion, significant economic growth in the Qeshm region will be achieved in the future. It also develops the downstream petrochemical industry in Qeshm with the capabilities available as developing hub. The development of the downstream and the midstream industries should not be overlooked either.
There was considerable interest of the money and capital market in exploring ways to develop finance projects under the effect of sanctions. The National Petrochemical Company’s strategy was to finance projects, to come up with new financing instruments in the capital market, and to establish specialized petrochemical investment funds. Ideally, financing large-scale projects in normal situations should be propped through foreign investment, but under of sanctions, the central bank’s focus on using domestic monetary and banking capacities to implement and promote free-zone projects is not only useful but also essential. These ideas and interactions will make project managers more familiar with the different types of financing methods to advance their projects in the Qeshm Free Zone. In the current situation and due to unilateral sanctions against Islamic Republic of Iran, it is believed that in the light of synergy and constructive cooperation, this stage can be dealt with.
If the development of the Qeshm is considered as a comprehensive Qeshm development plan, the involvement of all stakeholders in all stages and use of management and decision-making tools such as integrated off-shore and seaside management as well as spatial and coastal zoning is avoidable. For any development action on the island of Qeshm it should be set as the default.
Based on the points of view raised at the summit by the experts and decision makers, Qeshm regional energy and petrochemical hub vision and ongoing projects and plans are more reachable than ever with the current taking of events and actions. Due to the fact that Qeshm Free Zone Organization has been able to make progress with attracting domestic and foreign investment with a solid plan during past 3 years. In continuous, a leap is predicted to enhance the qualifications of Qeshm Island as mentioned below.
Qeshm Free Zone Organization, in coherence with the presence of investors, has been able to achieve the following aims during the year of 2020:
– 2.2 million cubic meters of gas sweetened per day (in operation)
– Storage of crude oil and petroleum products with a capacity of 3.2 million barrels (loading)
– Generating of 10 megawatts of solar energy
– Generating of over one thousand megawatts of electricity and one hundred thousand cubic meters of water on the island (Utilization in 2021)
– Refining 35,000 barrels a day of heavy crude oil
– Construction of an oil dock in the north of the island with a capacity of 14.5 million barrels per year
– Bunkering with a storage capacity of 52,000 tons
With the powerful management of the Qeshm Free Zone Organization under the responsibility of Mr. Hamid Reza Momeni, the Balanced Development Strategy of Qeshm Island is followed and established. During his five-year active presence in the region, he has made great strides in the three areas of “oil and energy”, “tourism” and “fisheries and agriculture”. It is hoped that the island will become one of the economic and touristic hubs of the West Asian region in the coming years, and perhaps above areas such as Malaysia and Singapore.
Advisor to Qeshm Free Zone Organization CEO in Oil and Energy Affairs and Secretary of the Summit
Mohammad Javad Dehghani Tafti