Deputy director of the National Iranian Oil Company says oil privatization in Iran can serve as a model for other regional countries.

Speaking upon return from Lisbon, where he attended the 2007 Energy Meeting, Hojjatollah Ghanimifard noted that as other countries of the Middle East had followed Iran in their bid to nationalize their oil industry, they can now proceed with oil privatization in a similar manner.

Noting that NIOC is one of the world's oldest oil companies, he pointed out that a total of 130 oil, gas and petrochemical companies out of 144 would be privatized under a seven-year privatization program.

"Only 14 upstream exploration and production companies will remain state-run," he added.

Ghanimifard went on to say that state oil companies from Iran, Russia, Algeria, Angola, Brazil and Venezuela had attended the one-day meeting in Lisbon.

Representatives from a number of major private companies, including the US' Chevron, the British Petroleum, France's Total, Italy's Eni and Spain's Repsol had also been present, he said.