Reports had surfaced in Irans official media that Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh would soon face the sack for failing to run the ministry in line with the plans of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Vaziri-Hamaneh is a veteran Oil Ministry official who served in the previous government as a deputy oil minister.
The state-run news agency Fars quoted informed sources as saying he would be replaced by Ali Kordan, Gholam-Hossein Nozari, or Ali-Asghar Zarei, with Kordan being the favourite to win the post due to his background in administrative tasks.
In a statement, however, the Oil Ministry maintained that Vaziri-Hamanehs time in office had been extended until the end of Ahmadinejads tenure.
The important portfolio of Oil Minister was vacant for several months when Ahmadinejad became President in late 2005, as deputies in the hardline-dominated Majlis (Parliament) voted down three other nominees for the job on the grounds that they were not capable of handling the vital oil sector.
Iran ranks second in oil production among the OPEC states, accounting for some 80 percent of the countrys export revenues.
