The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) ( Sherkat-e Melli-ye Naft-e Iran), a government-owned corporation under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran, is an oil and natural gas producer and distributor headquartered in Tehran. It was established in 1948. NIOC ranks as the world's third largest oil company, after Saudi Arabia's state-owned Aramco and Russia's Gazprom.