The Iranian government has approved a new format of contracts for the development of the country’ upstream oil and gas projects.
The approval of the new format of oil and gas contracts took place during a cabinet meeting on chaired by President Hassan Rouhani.
This is meant to help maximize Iran’s oil and gas production specifically in reserves that are shared with the neighboring countries, the government announced on its website president.ir.
Other objectives of the new format of oil and gas contracts include attracting major international energy corporations to bring investments as well as advanced technology into Iran’s energy sector projects.
Iran’s new oil sector contracts – generally referred to as the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) – will be a modification of the traditional buy-back risk service contracts and have been specifically designed to increase the attractiveness of Iranian oil projects for foreign investors.
The IPC offers different stages of exploration, development and production to the contractors as an integrated package.
Also, Iran will set up joint ventures with the contractors to extract reserves at the fields. The contractors will be accordingly reimbursed through a share of production from the fields.
Earlier, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh told reporters that a conference will be held in Tehran within the next two months to present the IPC to international corporations.
Zangeneh also said a second conference will be held in London in February 2016 to introduce the new format of Iranian contracts to those who have missed the Tehran presentation.
Officials in Tehran expect a high turnout by major global energy corporations to study the IPC. Rokneddin Javadi, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), told reporters on Wednesday that certain American companies may also attend the presentation.