Oil and gas major Royal Dutch Shell is holding negotiations with the Iranian energy company Petropars Ltd. on carrying out feasibility studies for investment in oil and gas projects, managing director of Petropars said on Sunday.
“Ongoing negotiations with Shell are focused on technical aspects of projects,” Mohammad Javad Shams was also quoted as saying by Shana.
Established in 1998, Petropars was founded to contribute toward the development of Iran’s vast energy resources. It specializes as a developer of exploration, exploitation and production in upstream projects.
Pointing to the negotiations of international energy companies with domestic companies on investment in Iranian projects under the new Iran Petroleum Contract, Shams said Petropars has so far held talks with some foreign companies, including the Anglo-Dutch company Shell and an unnamed Italian-German firm.
Royal Dutch Shell, commonly known as Shell, is a multinational oil and gas company headquartered in the Netherlands and incorporated in the United Kingdom. It is the seventh largest company in the world as of 2016, in terms of revenue. Shell paid €1.77 billion ($1.9 billion) it owed the National Iranian Oil Company in March, settling debts after sanctions against the country were lifted in January.
The outstanding debt to Iran was a result of Iranian oil deliveries that Shell had been unable to pay due to sanctions imposed on the country over its nuclear program.
Western sanctions cut Iran's oil exports by more than half to around 1.1 million barrels per day from a pre-2012 level of 2.5 million bpd. The Islamic Republic holds the world's largest gas reserves and fourth-largest proven oil reserves.
The official noted that foreign companies seeking participation in Iran’s energy projects are currently entering the Persian Gulf country’s market, adding that Petropars recently signed a memorandum of understanding with a German company.
Shams stressed that the company is also in talks with another company over the implementation of projects in West Karun oilfields, which are yet to be finalized.
West Karun, located in southwest Iran, includes Yaran and Mansouri fields as well as Yadavaran, North and South Azadegan joint fields with Iraq.
Development of West Karun oilfields is Iran's top priority to raise crude production and regain its lost ground in the global oil market in the post-sanctions period.
Referring to sustainable production in the South Pars Gas Field’s Phase 12, Petropars’s CEO added that the execution of Phase 19 and injection of gas into the national grid indicate Iranian companies’ high potential in undertaking oil and gas projects. This has boosted the confidence of international companies in implementing such projects in cooperation with domestic enterprises.
