Iran to Review Oil Contracts for Attracting Foreign Investors


Iran to Review Oil Contracts for Attracting Foreign Investors

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian Oil Ministry has tasked special expert groups with reviewing the country’s oil contracts as part of a broader initiative to increase foreign investment in the energy sector.

Abdol-Mohammad Delparish, the director of consolidated planning at National Iranian Oil Company, said on Saturday that the move came after the Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh ordered a structural revision of oil contracts.

“At present, expert groups have been set up and the necessary studies have started to that effect,” he told Shana.

He added that domestic contractors are consulting Iranian and foreign experts in order to make the oil contracts more attractive for foreign investors.

“We are currently studying different generations of buy-back contracts in the petroleum industry,” Delparish stated.

Iran decided to invite major energy firms to invest in its oil and gas industries as the country wants to reduce the effect of western sanctions and boost oil production capacity.

Zanganeh had announced on August 23 that Iran is willing to cooperate with any foreign energy firm capable of increasing the country’s oil production capacity.

“There are no limitations in this regard and we will open the country’s market and potentials once again to them (foreign firms) to win their cooperation in the new phase of oil industry development,” Zanganeh stated at the time.

The oil minister had also said on August 19 that the top priority of his ministry is to raise the country's "oil production capacity" to 4 million barrels a day.

“Increasing Iran’s oil output will boost (the country’s) bargaining power in international bodies, like OPEC, so the oil production capacity must increase immediately to above four million bpd by the end of the current (Iranian) year (ending on March 21, 2014),” Zanganeh said at the time.

With 137.6 billion barrels of proven reserves, Iran has the world's fourth largest crude deposits. In terms of gas reserves, it is second only to Russia, with reserves estimated at 29.61 trillion cubic meters (tcm).

 

 

Most Visited in Economy
Top Economy stories
Top Stories