Foreigners Studying Iran’s Oil, Gas Fields Prior to Contract: Minister
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian oil and gas fields that are going to be developed on future contracts are being studied by foreign companies under non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said.
Foreign companies are examining several oil and gas fields in Iran under a number of non-disclosure agreements, Zanganeh told reporters on Tuesday.
According to the minister, the fields will be the subject of subsequent contracts.
A non-disclosure agreement, also known as a confidentiality agreement, is a deal between two parties that outlines confidential material that the two sides do not want a third party to have access to.
Elsewhere in his comments, Zanganeh said Iran will sign several deals with foreign customers using the new model of oil contracts until this Iranian year’s end (March 2017).
However, he added, it depends on whether the text of the new contracts will be finalized.
Back in August, President Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet approved an amended draft of the new model for oil and gas contracts.
The new amendments were endorsed after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei stressed that no new oil and gas contracts for international companies would be awarded without necessary reforms.
The new oil and investment contract for international firms, known as the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC), will replace Iran’s buyback oil deals.
Iran worked on the oil contract model for two years. The country hopes to draw as much as $50 billion a year from major oil companies such as Italy’s Eni SpA and France’s Total to develop its oil and gas fields.
