(From InfoProd)
According to "Tehran Times", Head of Institute for International Energy Studies said establishing a transparent financial system for the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will reduce investment risk and attract foreign investments. Mehdi Asali added that the current fiscal regime of NIOC has increased investment risk. Asali noted that the superiority of royalty fiscal regime over the current situation was in transparency of huge energy subsidies, adding that the new system will pave the way for producing exact figures on profitability, royalty, special tax, general tax and stock dividend. The official also stated that a good fiscal regime can also help the government with social security costs through the cooperation of the National Iranian Oil Company. Meanwhile, financial manager of NIOC, Ali Kardar, opined that maximizing revenues, stabilizing projected earning, improving Iran's national accounts by separating royalty, tax and stock dividend as well as bringing more transparency to energy subsidies as major positive points of a royalty regime.

Source: Asia Africa Intelligence Wire

Tehran-P.I.N.-2004/08/01 - Head of Institute for International Energy Studies said establishing a transparent financial system for the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will reduce investment risk and attract foreign investments. Mehdi Asali added that the current fiscal regime of NIOC has increased investment risk.

“In the current fiscal regime, the financial relationship between NIOC and the government is very ambiguous and it is not clear how NIOC is paying the government,” he noted. Asali noted that the superiority of royalty fiscal regime over the current situation was in transparency of huge energy subsidies, adding that the new system will pave the way for producing exact figures on profitability, royalty, special tax, general tax and stock dividend. “Even if we accepted that oil was an ultra-strategic commodity and Iran was a strategic country and the United States aimed to undermine Iran’s oil, we must still increase the economic profit to its maximum,” he noted.

The official also stated that a good fiscal regime can also help the government with social security costs through the cooperation of the National Iranian Oil Company. “This will promote social security and it can also be used to supply needed credits for implementing big national and developmental projects. At the same time, the profits resulting from a royalty regime should be safeguarded in a fund for future generations,” he said.

Meanwhile, financial manager of NIOC, Ali Kardar, opined that maximizing revenues, stabilizing projected earning, improving Iran’s national accounts by separating royalty, tax and stock dividend as well as bringing more transparency to energy subsidies as major positive points of a royalty regime.