Rebel News - Independent News and Analysis

A South Korean company has won a contract worth $1.46 billion to construct the world's largest desalination plant in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi state-owned Saline Water Conversion Corp notified Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction on winning the contract on Wednesday and said the plant will be launched by January 2014.

Iran has produced more than 16 million tons of petrochemical products in the first five months of the Iranian year (March 21 - August 21, 2010).

Iran exported 7.14 million tons of petrochemicals, worth $4.2 billion, and some 2.8 million tons of the produced petrochemicals were sold in domestic markets, according to a report published on the Oil Ministry's official website SHANA.

A senior official in Iran's Energy Ministry says the country ranks eighth among world countries that have the capability to construct gas power plants.

Iran has successfully managed to develop the advanced technology to build gas power plants and compete with the developed countries in this field, Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said on Tuesday.

The United States plans to strike a 60-billion-dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia, the largest foreign arms sale by the United States.

The deal adds 30 billion dollar worth of Apache and Black Hawk attack helicopters to a package that already included 84 F-15 fighter jets.

An Iranian Oil Ministry official says the country's natural gas flow to Turkey would be resumed within the next seven days after it halted because of an explosion on August 25.

The overnight blast, allegedly carried out by the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), forced Turkish authorities to shut down the conduit in the country's eastern province of Agri, which borders Iran.

Iran plans to pump more crude from three oil fields shared with Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, an Iranian energy official says.

The oil-rich country is scheduled to increase its oil production of the fields by 30,000 barrels per day or 20 percent, Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh, managing director of Iran's Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), told Mehr news agency on Sunday.

Iran and China are to finalize a deal in the coming days on the latter's corporate investment in Iranian petrochemical projects.

The National Iranian Petrochemical Company (NIPC) and a Chinese consortium are completing talks on an agreement under which the Chinese side is to funnel some $1 billion into petrochemical projects in Iran, reported the Mehr News Agency.

The volume of securities traded on Tehran Stock Exchange has marked a sharp growth despite the market depression in other parts of the Middle East.

According to a report published by The Financial Times newspaper on Wednesday, Tehran bourse has climbed 53 percent so far this year, compared to last year, and already enjoys a record market capitalization of $81 billion across about 350 companies. The stock market managed to climb 29 percent in 2009.

Iran's gasoline production will soon be increased by 20 million liters, making the country self-sufficient despite sanctions, the Iranian oil minister has said.

"With this increase in production, Iran will not be in need of further gasoline imports”, Fars News Agency quoted Masoud Mir-Kazemi as saying after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Iran has officially begun pumping crude oil from the Hengam oilfield shared with neighboring Oman in the Persian Gulf, after a $400mn two-year development.

“The field is to produce ten thousand barrels a day of the finest and lightest of Iranian crude in the first phase, but its production level will reach 16 thousand barrels in two months,” IRNA quoted Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi as saying on Tuesday.