He said Petronas along with French Total had been involved in development of phases two and three of South Pars in 1997 and the project was handled well.

Petronas is among a few world oil and gas companies to be active in both upstream and downstream oil sectors within a short period of its activity.

The Minister said small Malaysian companies are also willing to invest in Iran. “Of course, the companies should have financial capability and prove it to us.”

The minister said companies should contribute to the projects in a way that repayment of the net and gross capital will be out of part of the production obtained from the field.

He commented on purchase of oil and oil products from Iran by Malaysia and said the topic was raised in today’s meeting with Malaysian officials and Iran suggested the Malaysian party to start from commercial and short-term activities as a start-up and then expand the work.

He said the two countries will hold more talks and feasibility studies for the purpose.