Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
Four foreign firms are seeking to invest in the Phase 11 of Iran's South Pars gas field, Iranian Fars News Agency reported on Mar. 7.
British Petroleum, Total, Petronas, and Eni are the mentioned four companies.
Phase 11 is considered as one of the best phases of the gas field.
According to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the phase's development project will be awarded to a foreign firm.
The Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh ordered oil ministry officials in September 2013 to revise contracts in order to make them more attractive to foreign companies.
Iran is in dire need of money and financial resources and can't afford to pay the expenses of giant projects in the energy sector, so it needs the money of domestic and foreign private companies to carry out the projects.
Iranian Mehr News Agency reported on Jan. 17 that Zanganeh has formally invited giant British oil companies, Shell and British Petroleum, to take part in the country's oil and gas projects.
Deputy Manager of National Iranian Oil Company, Ali Kardor, said on Feb. 2 that in the past eight years only $400,000 of foreign investment has been absorbed in Iran's oil sector.
"Iran's oil contracts lack variety," he said.
He went on to note that buyback contracts were popular in Iran when the oil prices were low.
Managing director of Natural Gas Storage Company (NGSC), Massoud Samivand, said on Feb. 21 that Iran plans to present new gas contracts to the private sector, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported.
"With oil minister's approval the ministry is going to present 20-25 years old Build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts to domestic and foreign investors," Samivand added.
Iran has the world's fourth-largest proved national reserves of oil - most of it cheap to produce - and is home to the biggest proved reserves of natural gas, some 18 percent of the global total.
According to BP's latest yearly report, Iran's dried gas output is about 160 bcm, a little more than domestic consumption level.
Iran exported 7.5 bcm of gas to Turkey and imported 4.5 bcm of gas from Turkmenistan in 2012, according to BP's report.
Edited by C.N.