Iran and Germany discussed preparing the grounds for the transfer of the Islamic Republic's blocked oil equipment in a meeting between senior officials of the two countries in Tehran on Wednesday.
"The two sides explored ways of releasing Iran's oil equipment that were blocked by sanctions," Amirhossein Zamaninia, deputy oil minister for international affairs, was quoted as saying by Shana.
"Iran and Germany are willing to expand ties in petrochemical, refining and distribution, fuel consumption efficiency and oil equipment production sectors."
Siegfried Russwurm, Siemens' chief technology officer, also told Shana that "there are no legal restrictions anymore" to supply Iran with oil equipment following the lifting of sanctions.
Russwurm added that Siemens is closely monitoring investment opportunities in Iran's oil, gas, railroad and transportation sectors.
The US and the European Union officially ended decades-old sanctions against Iran on Jan. 16, six months after Iran and six world powers (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany) reached an agreement on placing time-bound sanctions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for some sanctions relief.
Siemens is part of a politico-economic German delegation that arrived in Tehran late Tuesday.
The German mission is headed by Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier who met with President Hassan Rouhani and several senior Iranian government officials in his second trip to the Persian Gulf country after the July 14 nuclear agreement.
Iran and Germany envisage broader cooperation in the post-sanctions era. Germany, Europe's largest economy, expects exports to Iran to double to $5.5 billion in the next few years and increase twofold in the long run.
Once the second-biggest producer of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Iran has said it wants to boost crude production capacity by 1 million barrels within six months of sanctions removal.
To do so, it needs to revamp its aging oil production equipment after years of underinvestment and increase financial and trade interactions with the world.
