Iran is buying stocks of crude oil refineries in European, Asian, African and South American countries and has plans to build refineries abroad, a report said.

“Currently, buying stocks of crude oil refineries abroad is one of the policies pursued by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to ensure guaranteed sale of Iranian crude in the long run,” Abbas Kazemi, managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC)was quoted as saying by Mehr News.

“In negotiations with countries like Brazil and Spain, we have proposed to construct crude oil refineries within the framework of equal shares and partnership,” he said.

“NIORDC mainly undertakes the technical feasibility and economic justifiability of the project while NIOC remains as the key decision maker.”

“Iran’s current approach is to invest in the construction of the refineries with the prerequisite that most required equipment will be supplied by Iranian manufacturers,” he pointed out, highlighting that South Africa has voiced willingness to improve the quality of its oil refineries by Iranian experts.

He also referred to some Indonesian and Malaysian companies with whom talks are on to activate their refinery projects in which Iran holds shares.