Iran will put up for grabs some 50 oil and gas projects worth $185bn over the next five years, according to a senior government official.
Deputy oil minister for commerce and international affairs, Hossein Zamaninia, told Reuters that the government plans to offer all of the blocks to foreign exploration and production firms.
Iranian officials say they have designed a new petroleum contract structure for international investors called the “integrated petroleum contract” or IPC.
The IPCs will last for a term of 20 to 25 years and a considered a substantial improvement over the older, shorter-term contracts — which have been a major stumbling point for international oil and gas companies.
Iran’s oil and gas sector has opened for foreign investment after the Islamic Republic struck a historic deal with the West on July 14th.
The deal resulted in the lifting of decades of international economic sanctions in exchange for closer monitoring and access to Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Less than a week after the deal was signed, Iran exported its first shipment of oil, with a 2 million barrel Iranian supertanker setting sail for the Asia Pacific region.
The supertanker had been storing crude offshore, according to news site Reuters. While oil analysts do not expect Iran to make a major return to the market until next year, it has been parking millions of barrels of oil on tankers for months.
According to country’s minister of industry, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, the Islamic Republic has already secured $2bn worth of trade deals since a deal was reached to end international sanctions.
