The government will finalize the new version of Iran's oil contracts—known as the Iran Petroleum Contracts or IPC—within a maximum of two weeks, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Tuesday.
Zanganeh said the new contracts are aimed at accelerating the development of oil and gas fields, making up for underdevelopments in joint fields over the past few years and adopting new, advanced technologies in the energy sector, Shana reported.
Last week, Deputy Oil Minister Rokneddin Javadi announced that Iran will lift the veil on the framework of its long-awaited multibillion-dollar oil contracts in a seminar in the capital in November before a full-fledged unveiling later in London.
Since March 2014, the Oil Contracts Revision Committee Group, a subsidiary of the Oil Ministry, was expected to hold an international seminar on Iran's oil and gas industry and its potentials for a post-sanctions era.
Previously, the head of the committee, Seyyed Mehdi Hosseini, said a group of "elites and analysts" had been informed of the details of contract, ruling out claims that the contracts' terms and conditions had not been worked out yet.
As a much-needed stepping stone to reinvent and sweeten the country's oil deals for foreign companies, a convention of several major global oil firms was held in early 2014 in Tehran.
According to reports, the new petroleum deals will require foreign contractors to finance the heavy costs of exploring the less-developed Iranian oilfields, and in return, the contractors would make revenues from the fields' output under a joint venture with the Islamic Republic.
Transfer of technology, including new methods for exploring and developing oilfields, as well as financial transparency are among the pivotal points of the new deals.
Tehran Opportunity
Abdollah Younesara, a senior energy industry analyst, underlined the upcoming IPC seminars in Tehran and London as equally important, despite statements from government officials that the Tehran convention will be used to introduce the framework of the new petroleum contracts.
"Oil Ministry does not pursue different plans in either conference … We ultimately look forward to having a successful introduction of the new oil deals," he said.
"We have a better chance for negotiating and reaching agreements with foreign contractors in Tehran."
The IPC will be put on display for the first time this year, however, "it will not be the last," Younesara said, stressing that a third convention could be held in Vienna if needed, as some Iranian oilfield exploration projects were previously unveiled in the Austrian capital.
The official noted that the Tehran conference will allow authorities to make any final revision to the petroleum contracts.
Major international oil and gas companies are eagerly anticipating the unveiling of some 50 projects valued at $40 billion to claim a stake in Iran's rich energy projects following the lifting of decades-long western sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Iran and six world powers reached a historic deal on July 14 in Vienna, which would limit the Persian Gulf country’s nuclear program in return for removing sanctions on its energy and financial industries.
