Baku, Azerbaijan, April 19
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran's new model of oil contracts will enter into force if the international sanctions against the country are lifted.
Mehdi Hosseini, who heads the Oil Ministry's Oil Contracts Revision Committee, said all the required measures have been taken to hold tenders, if the international sanctions against the country are lifted Iran's ILNA news agency reported on April 19.
Nationality of foreign companies will not be important in the revised model of oil contracts, he said.
Shell, Total, BP, and Exxon Mobil will be placed the top priority for concluding oil contracts, according to Hosseini.
Iran's oil industry will be heading forward with or without sanctions, Tasnim News agency quoted Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh as saying on March 1.
The sanctions have not hindered the trend of progress of Iran's oil industry, he said, adding that the new model of contracts will help the country circumvent the sanctions.
Iran is mulling 20-25-year term contracts for oil and gas development projects being awarded to foreign executives operating in Iran, the adviser to the revising committee of Oil Ministry contracts Ayeh Katebi, said February 24, IRNA reported.
Unlike the third generation contracts, the new contract model offers foreign executives the prolonged projects up to 25 years, Katebi said.
She said the previous models required contractors to leave the country three to five years after their projects were completed.
The former contract model was short-term which resulted in the sluggish transfer of technology in oil facilities, however, the new contracts have tackled this issue by prolonging the term of the development project.
On February 23, Iranian Oil Ministry announced the details of the new type of oil contracts designed to attract foreign executives to develop Iranian oil and gas fields.
The new scheme was unveiled on the second and last day of a national seminar on oil contracts revision. Representatives from international companies had attended the ceremony to declare the new contract model.