Watching The World: Iran's oil minister nominee
Eric Watkins
Oil Diplomacy Editor
Aug. 3 will be an eventful day for Iran's oil and gas industry, with the country's parliament scheduled to debate on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's latest nominee for the position of oil minister.
"I introduce Rostam Qasemi as the oil minister nominee to the parliament," Ahmadinejad last week said in a letter to lawmakers, who will debate a vote of confidence for Qasemi.
There will certainly be a lot for them to debate about, too, as Qasemi is head of the Khatam Al-Anbia construction firm, an engineering and construction contractor controlled by Iran's elite Republican Guards.
The debate will turn partly on Qasemi's credentials for the position. About all that can be said is that he was a low-profile parliamentarian for two terms in the late 1980s and 1990s before heading to Khatam Al-Anbia in 2008.
International sanctions
The state-run firm, which was created after the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran War to help the Republican Guards participate in the country's reconstruction, was originally involved in building roads and infrastructure.
The organization has since become involved in a number of projects in addition to the construction of dams and roads, among them the development of gas fields, petrochemical plants, as well as oil and gas pipe lay.
Along the way, Khatam al-Anbiya and its principal subsidiaries found themselves on a list of Iranian institutions subject to United Nations' sanctions, which were strengthened last year by a strict embargo adopted by Western powers.
In June, the UN Security Council blacklisted 15 firms belonging to the Republican Guards for their alleged role in Iran's nuclear activities, which the US and its allies say is a cover to build atomic bombs.
Qasem's nuclear role
More to the point, Qasemi is himself named in sanctions by both the US and European Union for his alleged role in helping Iran's controversial nuclear program—a program that the Iranians claim is for peaceful purposes only.
Some parliamentarians oppose Qasemi's nomination because the EU sanctions prevent him from traveling to most parts of Europe, making it unlikely for him to attend meetings of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna.
That should matter a lot as Iran currently holds the OPEC presidency. But some parliamentarians, such as Mohammad Dehghan, think Iran could try to have the sanctions on Qasemi lifted "gradually." Even if it does not happen, Dehghan said, Qasemi "can send his deputies."
In the face of such wishful—if not willful—thinking, one can only wonder at the fate of the country's oil and gas industry. At the very least, it is being turned into a political weapon.
Who will it harm most? That's the question.
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