Tehran: 19:45, 2003/09/29 - Although Iran has access to natural resources such as oil, gas, and coal mines, it does not mean that we lost our right to use atomic energy, Mahdi Asali head of Iran’s International Energy Research Association (IERA) said here Sunday.

Economically speaking, the variety of energy resources in a country is considered as a justifiable way for saving state funds, Asali said.

“This has been a successful experience in the developed world.”

Countries like USA, Russia, France, Switzerland, Germany and Japan meet a huge amount of their energy requirements from nuclear power plants, he said adding that since uranium and coal, which are used to produce atomic energy, are non-renewable, it seems logical to maintain such resources.

The world would experience a progressive increase in its fossil fuel consumption by the year 2020, Asali predicted.

“The use of new energies is also estimated to be doubled by then,” he added.

Iran Green Pen – Head of Iran's International Energy Studies Center, Mehdi Assali said Iraq could not enter the world's international oil market in 5 years, adding since there is not any valid and legal sovereignty to guarantee the investments made by foreign companies.

"Some believes Iraqi oil production can have a positive impact on oil pricing system but as Iraq oil production rate is not enough even for their internal market, it would be postponed to future," Assali said.

Iraqi officials have recently declared that their oil production rate is going to reach to 6 mm bpd.