The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) (Persian: شرکت ملّی نفت ایران,
Sherkat Melli Naft'e Iran), is a government-owned corporation under the
direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran, is an oil and natural gas
producer and distributor headquartered in Tehran. It was established in 1948.
NIOC ranks as the world's second largest oil company, after Saudi Arabia's
state-owned Aramco.
The NIOC is exclusively responsible for the
exploration, extraction, transportation and exportation of crude oil, as well as
sales of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Having provided the
domestic refineries and manufacturing plants with crude oil required for the
petroleum products, the NIOC exports its surplus production according to
commercial considerations in the framework of the quotas determined by the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and at the prices prevalent
in the international markets". Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Iranian_Oil_Company
The NIOC
is part of the four corporations in charge of the framework of operation of the
Iranian Oil Industry:
image by Ian MacDonald,
5 November 2012
image located by Esteban Rivera,
15 October 2012