Iran's new oil investment contract to be ready this summer: Zanganeh

June 27, 2016 - 19:35

DUBAI (Reuters) - The first of Iran's new oil and gas investment contracts for international companies will be launched this summer and will invite bids to develop 10-15 fields, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was quoted by the Shana news agency as saying.

The Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) is a cornerstone of the country's plan to raise crude production to the pre-sanctions level of four million barrels per day (bpd), and the OPEC member desperately needs $200 billion in foreign money to reach the goal.

Zanganeh said a final draft for the contracts will be approved by the government shortly after some amendments to appease both critics and foreign companies.

"Some critics had raised some issues on the model of these contracts, we held meetings with them," Zanganeh said.

Zanganeh said that the contracts were amended to enable Iran to develop the oil and gas fields either through a buy-back system or other methods. He did not elaborate.

Oil majors have said they would go back to Iran if it made major changes to the buy-back contracts of the 1990s, which companies such as France's Total or Italy's Eni said made them no money or even incurred losses.