"We have assessed many investment opportunities in Africa," the managing director of the Petropars oil and gas company, Gholam-Reza Manouchehri, told Reuters. "And we will examine next week the manner of participation," he said, without giving details.

Political stability has increased the flow of foreign investment into oil-rich Angola, whose infrastructure was devastated by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.
Although buoyed by an oil-fuelled boom, its government is struggling to rebuild and raise living standards.

Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil exporter and also sits atop the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia.

Its oil output hit 4.203 million bpd last month, the highest level since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution, according to Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari.

Manouchehri said his company is also preparing a decision on possible participation in two Venezuelan oil projects that call for $8 billion in investment.

Meanwhile South Africa's Standard Bank Group has appointed Clive Tasker as chief executive of Standard Bank Africa, the company said on Monday.

Tasker, who replaces Craig Bond, was previously Standard Bank's regional managing director for Southern and West Africa. Bond will remain with the company and is relocating to Beijing in mid-2008, the company said in a statement. Standard Bank is Africa's largest bank by assets.

Keywords: angola business oil south_africa