Tehran Offering Russians Service Contracts

Iran offers service contracts on oil production in the country to Russian oil and gas companies, Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Kirill Molodtsov said on Wednesday. "The Iranian side says at ministerial-level consultations that, for example, direct parameters on production-sharing agreement are a scheme which is very hard to implement. They say this scheme is impossible for them, yet they are offering service contracts," Molodtsov told reporters, Sputnik reported. According to Gholamreza Manouchehri, the National Iranian Oil Company director for engineering and development, Iran has signed memoranda of understanding with some Russian oil and gas companies, namely Lukoil, Zarubezhneft and Tatneft, which he hopes will turn into contracts soon. Stressing that such MoUs contribute to expanding bilateral ties in the petroleum industry, Manouchehri added, “Russia, as a strategic partner and a nation with over 10 million barrels of daily oil production, has made very good progress in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and improved oil recovery (IOR) technology, which can help Iran increase output from its oilfields.”