Ali Forouzandeh said that the number of foreign companies attending the event has grown 100% compared to figures reported in the previous edition of the exhibition that was held last year.
Such a big participation in an Iranian oil exhibition takes place while the country's energy sector is under tough Western sanctions which intend to choke off Iran’s oil revenues.
Iran Oil Show is the biggest oil exhibition in the Middle East and one of the biggest petroleum events in the world, according to Forouzandeh.
The exhibition is due to be held in Tehran’s Permanent International Fairground on May 17-20.
Alexander Novak, deputy prime minister of the Russian Federation and the country’s former energy minister, is one of the top-ranking guests of the event.
The Oil MInistry spokesman said a forum will be held involving 100 Russian companies and 200 firms from Iran on the sidelines of the event where the Iranian companies will hold business to business (B2B) meetings with their Russian partners.
In this year’s exhibition, a whole hall of the fair will be allocated to Russian and Chinese companies.
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