TEHRAN- The U.S. companies may participate in the conference to unveil Iran’s new models of oil contracts, known as the Integrated Petroleum Contract (IPC), according to National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Managing Director Rokneddin Javadi.

Javadi said there is no limitation for cooperation with the U.S. companies in the framework of the new contracts, the Shana News Agency reported on Wednesday.

A number of Iran’s oil projects, to be carried out based on the IPC, will be introduced to the foreign investors in the conference, which is scheduled to be held in Tehran in the Iranian month of Aban (October 23-Novemebr 21), according to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh.

On September 26, Zanganeh said Iran will hold a conference to unveil its new oil contracts in Tehran instead of London.

The announcement came after organizers said a conference planned for December in London had been pushed back to February 2016.

Zanganeh said the London conference will go ahead so that the companies which miss the event in Tehran could attend it.

On July 29, Iranian MP Jalil Ja’fari, who is also a member of the Iranian parliament’s energy committee, said door is open for all Western countries, even U.S. companies, to invest in Iran’s oil industry.

He said the new model of oil contracts will be announced based on participation between Iranian and foreign companies, so that their investment will be secured for a long period of time.

Energy officials have said Iran has identified nearly 50 oil and gas projects worth $185 billion up for grab, according to Press TV.

An agreement with the P5+1 powers - the U.S., UK, China, Russia, France, and Germany - would trigger a rush by international oil companies (IOCs) to return to the country which has been off limits.  

Iran is planning to change its oil contract model to allow IOCs to participate in all phases of an upstream project, including production. 

With holding 157.5 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world’s fourth largest crude oil reserves. 
  
MA/