RoydadNaft –  The acting oil minister called for solidarity, convergence, and extra work in the country’s current conditions, and urged higher production, wider oil-industry activity, rebuild of damaged sites, flare-gas gathering, and faster completion of projects ready to open. National interests must be protected and Iran turned into a great construction site, he said.

According to Roydad Naft, Hamid Bovard spoke on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, at a coordination meeting with the board and managers of the National Iranian Oil Company. Everyone is responsible to Iran and the homeland, he said, and hard passes ahead must be crossed with solidarity, convergence, and extra work.

The oil industry has always acted with authority in difficult conditions, and this stage can also be passed successfully through collective effort, he said.

Thanking Mohsen Paknejad for his time as oil minister, Bovard called him a disciplined, capable, and honest manager who always worked in the oil industry with seriousness and a sense of responsibility.

On Monday, October 5, 2026, President Masoud Pezeshkian appointed Bovard acting oil minister. Accepting Paknejad’s resignation, he named Bovard to run the ministry. Bovard, previously chief executive of the National Iranian Oil Company, will hold the post until a new minister is named and introduced.