Geotimes - October 2007 - Iran replaces oil ministersNEWS NOTES
Energy and Resources Iran replaces oil ministers
Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad replaced the country’s key oil and industry ministers in August in a major Cabinet reshuffle, The Associated Press (AP) reported Aug. 13. State-run media did not explain the dismissals, but the move is seen as an attempt to increase the president’s control over the industries that generate most of Iran’s revenue. Ahmadinejad replaced the ministers with the head of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company as oil minister and a Tehran chain store manager as industry minister. Analysts suggest that the move is not likely to shift Iran’s oil policies, but may change plans for a shake-up in the management of the energy sector, which the outgoing oil minister had resisted. When Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005, he promised to eradicate Iran’s “oil mafia” and to bring oil revenues to every Iranian family, but his failure to deliver on those promises has drawn strong criticism. This move may be a step in that direction, according to the AP story.