Tehran (FT):  The government has invested $1.5 billion in rail­road projects ever since Pre­si­dent Hassan Rou­hani took office in August 2013, Saeed Mo­hammadzadeh, CEO of the Is­lamic Republic of Iran Railways, said. The rail sector, according to Mohammadzadeh, has be­come a top priori­ty for both the government and the parliament, and Iran’s sixth five-year de­ve­lopment plan (2017-22) is focused on expansion of railroads, IRNA reported. As per the plan, it has been deci­ded that 1% of Iran’s annual oil revenues be allotted to develop railroads over the next five years.  Rail budget for the current Iranian year (March 2017-18) shows a 40% rise compared to that of last year (March 2016-17. Iran has 3,500 kilometers of railroads under con­struction. The country’s 20-Year Vision Plan (2005-25) stipulates that the number of passen­gers using rail trans­portation in the country will increase from the current 25 million to 65 million per year. Rail development projects include double-tracking, electrification and construction of high-speed railroads and track-laying on 1,500 km of new lines.

TEHRAN, July 3 (Shana) -- The French energy major Total signed contract with the National Ira­nian Oil Company (NIOC) for developing phase 11 of the supergiant South Pars Gas Field in Iran.

The strategic deal was signed between NIOC and a consortium comprising France's Total, Chi­na's CNPC International and Petropars Company from Iran.  A ceremony was held here in Teh­ran on Monday in the presence of Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh, Total chair­man and CEO Patrick Pouyanné, CNPC International President Mr. Lyu and Hamid Akbari, mana­ging director of Petropars.  Total will operate the project with a 50.1% interest alongside Petro­pars (19.9%) and the CNPC (30%). The consortium is expected to produce around 50 million cu­bic meters of gas per day from the offshore reserves of SP. 11 project.  During 20 years of gas ex­traction under the contract, an estimated volume of 335 billion cubic meters of rich, sour na­tu­ral gas will be produced from the phase with 290 million barrels of gas condensate, 14 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 12 million tons of ethane and 2 million tons of sulfur as well as 315 billion cubic meters of light sweet gas.  The energy carriers produced by the project will be valued at more than $54b considering the current prices. 

Preliminary production from the project will begin from the project 40 months after signature of the contract. Considering the intricacy of construction of pressure boosting facilities, the con­tract will take 36 months for studies and 60 months for platform construction. The project is es­ti­mated to cost $4,879 which will be settled in a 10-year period.

WOLFSBURG (dpa-AFX) - Volkswagen said that it will begin the sale of vehicles in Iran in August. Initially, Volkswagen's Tiguan and Passat models are to be im­por­­ted under a contract con­clu­ded with the Iranian automotive company Mammut Khodro.  The Volkswagen brand will thus again have a presence in the Iranian market after more than 17 years, and is systematically developing further worldwide market potential.  The privately-own­ed local partner Mammut Khodro - also the official Iranian importer for the Group's Scania brand - will import Volks­wa­gen brand vehicles into Iran and initially distribute them through eight dealers, focusing on the Teheran region.  The Iranian government estimates that there will be some 3 million new re­gistrations in the overall passenger car market per year in the me­dium to long term.

The average goods and services Consumer Price Index for urban areas in the 12 months ending June  21, which marks the end of the third Iranian month of Khordad, increased by 10.2% com­pa­red with last year’s corresponding period, the latest report released by the Central Bank of Iran an­nounced.  CBI had put the inflation rate for the preceding month of Ordibehesht, which ended  May 21, at 9.8%. The overall CPI (using the Iranian year to March 2012 as the base year) stood at 267.3 in Khordad, indicating a 0.5% growth compared with the previous month. The in­dex registered a year-on-year increase of 11% compared with the similar month of last year.  The CBI report came after the Statistical Center of Iran put Ordibehesht inflation at 7.4%.