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

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However, if the National Iranian Oil Company (NOIC) sells it natural gas outside of Iran, it turns a profit.

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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.

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It was only in 2003 when both nations started to make energy sector deals that the National Iranian Oil Company granted Brazil's oil giant Petrobras rights to explore Iran's offshore oil reserves in the Persian Gulf.

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