Officially privatized in 2000, NITC is nonetheless much entwined with the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company, or NIOC.

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Sinopec, the Chinese oil giant, and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed an agreement to explore oil in Zavareh, Kashan, 205 kilometers south of Tehran.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

In March 2004 NIOC boasted about huge contracts it was signing with foreign companies to help meet its goal of increasing oil production by 25% by 2010.

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"All, without any exception, are in decline--some in terminal decline, " says Mehdi Varzi, a prerevolutionary NIOC official who now runs the consulting firm Varzi Energy in London.

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