Sovereign wealth fund makes first $300m oil investment
Iran’s National Development Fund (NDF) has made its first $300 million investment in an oil project, the head of the fund said on Monday.
Mehdi Ghazanfari, chairman of the fund, said the payment was made as an advance contribution to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for the project titled "Rapid Plan for Crude Oil Production Leap of 250,000 BPD," IRNA reported.
Ghazanfari said that the project is the first oil venture by the fund under a new framework, made possible by permission granted from Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei for energy-sector investments. The payment was arranged in less than 40 days after the Supreme Economic Council’s resolution was conveyed to the fund, and the order to transfer the money was sent to the central bank last Wednesday during Government Week.
The investment agreement was finalized in a joint NDF-NIOC investment committee and confirmed by the Oil Ministry. It was also reviewed and approved at the fund’s board meeting, and is expected to be signed soon in the presence of senior officials, the NDF head said.
The crude oil production leap project will be carried out as a joint investment between the NDF and NIOC with participation shares of 80% and 20%, respectively, up to a ceiling of $3 billion. Repayment of the fund’s invested resources will begin once the targeted production increase is achieved.
The NDF is expected to provide at least $900 million to NIOC for the project by March 2026.