Bijan Namdar Zanganeh is known as the “sheikh of ministers” in Iran. Before 2005, he served a total of 22 years in ministererial positions, first as minister of construction jihad in Mir Hossein Mousavi’s government, then as minister of energy (water and power) in Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s Cabinet, and later as minister of petroleum in Mohammad Khatami’s administration. His departure from the ministry of petroleum in 2005 was accompanied by allegations by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the country was ruled by an “oil mafia,” an allegation that Ahmadinejad could not make stick in his eight years in office. 

The return of Zanganeh as petroleum minister under President Hassan Rouhani has been welcomed by industry players and experts alike after years of mismanagement under Ahmadinejad. When one looks at Zanganeh's past performance, one finds that he actually had important achievements during his previous term as petroleum minister (1997 to 2005): attracting foreign investors, especially European companies; expanding the gas sector and increasing the role of gas in the domestic energy basket (freeing up oil for export); enlarging the petrochemical sector; and developing local companies to become prime contractors in the upstream sector (OIEC, Petropars, Pedco, and so on).

One should not forget, however, that Zanganeh’s previous terms were not free of tensions and concerns. In 1997, Zanganeh had been viewed as a political appointee and was rejected by the industry’s managers, and especially by the industry veterans based in Ahwaz, who considered him an “outsider.” Zanganeh was criticized as having installed his own team, also viewed as outsiders, in key positions. It thus came as no surprise that Zanganeh issued a statement on his first day back at the Petroleum Ministry, addressing all the “honorable managers and staff of the petroleum industry,” thanking the ministry body and offering to closely collaborate with them. Zanganeh also announced that increasing the country’s oil production would be his top priority, an effort for which he will certainly need the cooperation of industry veterans in Ahwaz.

Managing intra-organizational tensions will be Zanganeh’s easiest challenge in light of three other facts — external sanctions that have undermined production and exports performance in the petroleum sector; widespread corruption and mismanagement in many of the companies and divisions emanating from the Ahmadinejad years; and the Majles Commission on Energy, which is led by former petroleum minister Massoud Mir Kazemi, who has assumed the role of Zanganeh’s main opponent in the parliament.