Iran names 29 foreign firms to bid for oil and gas projects

The Dollar Business Bureau

Iran has allowed 29 companies from over a dozen countries to bid for projects in oil and gas using the latest, less restrictive model - Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC), according to SHANA, the news website of oil ministry.

The list of pre-qualified companies include the Netherlands-headquartered Shell, Italy's Eni, Malaysia's Petronas, France's Total, and Russia's Gazprom and Lukoil, and also firms from Austria, China, Japan and some other countries.

The Islamic Republic is hoping that the new IPC model, part of its efforts to sweeten the terms it provides on oil development contracts, will help in attracting international investors and enhance output after years of sanctions.

The list didn’t include oil multinational British Petroleum (BP). According to The Financial Times, BP had decided to opt out of bidding process due to renewed concerns of US-Iran tensions after Donald Trump takes charge as US President on January 20.

Trump had earlier said that he will scrap the agreement between Tehran and the world’s major countries that imposed sanctions on Iran’s nuclear projects and lifted them last January.

The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) entered into the first oil production contract under the new IPC model in October 2016 with an Iranian company identified by the US as part of a conglomerate managed by Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

The new model, IPC, has been delayed many times due to opposition from hardline opponents of President Hassan Rouhani. It puts an end to a buy-back system of more than two decades ago under which Tehran did not permit foreign companies to book reserves or buy equity stakes in companies of Iran.