TEHRAN– Iran signed three oil contracts with Russia, Spain and Italy to further explore and study its oilfields based on their geological and geophysical features, the Shana news agency reported.

Iran signed a contract with Russia’s largest private oil firm Lukoil to geologically explore oil in the southwestern Khuzestan province, said Exploration Manager of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Hormoz Ghalavand.

He added that the contract worth $6 million which will be financed by Lukoil.

In September 2015, Lukoil and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) officials held negotiations about Russia’s second largest energy company’s resumption of a project to develop the Azar field in Iran’s Anaran block.    

Back then, Lukoil also announced readiness for participation in enhanced oil recovery plans of Iranian oilfields.

Meanwhile, NIOC signed a contract with Spain’s University of Barcelona for geophysical exploration and collaborative geological survey in southern Hormozgan province, Ghalavand said.

The plan, Ghalavand said, first started in 2014; since then, the two sides’ joint research has covered for 55 percent of the area under study.

The project, he added, costs €2 million which will be provided by Spain.

According to Ghalavand, Iran also concluded a contract with Italy’s University of Naples Federico II for geophysical exploration and collaborative geological survey in the western province of Kermanshah.

The contract was first signed during the Iranian tenth month of Dey (December 22, 2015-January 20, 2016), he said, adding that the Italian side would bear the entire cost of project which amounts to $4 million.

According to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iran produced 3.9 million bpd of oil before the sanctions, while the figure dropped to 2.7 million bpd, of which one million bpd is exported.  

Zanganeh has vowed to reclaim the country’s share of global crude oil exports within months of sanctions being lifted and said Tehran will move quickly to open the doors to international oil companies to help boost production.   

In November 2015, Iran also introduced its long-awaited new model of oil contracts, known as the Integrated Petroleum Contract (IPC), in a Tehran conference. 

The IPC will replace buy-back contracts. It is expected to offer more flexible terms on oil price fluctuations and investment risks to make the sector more financially attractive.   

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

SJ/MA