Five contracts for the development of oil and gas fields worth $13.6 billion were signed in the fourteenth government. Reza Aghabati, the Engineering and Development Manager of the National Iranian Oil Company, announced this news and added that these contracts were signed to increase production capacity and attract investment in the upstream sector of the country's oil industry.
Details of the new contracts
Aghabati announced that in addition to starting the operational activities of the five new contracts, approximately $2.3 billion worth of contracts in the upstream development sector have also been signed, which are currently in the approval and licensing stage. These actions are aimed at facilitating the investment process in the development of gas fields.
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Development of oil and gas fields
Aghabati also reported the signing of 40 memorandums of understanding in the fourteenth government, which include 39 oil and gas fields. He noted that if these memorandums are converted into contracts, it will be possible to sign contracts with an investment value of over $37 billion. The gas fields of Lavan, Khartang, and Sefid Zakhour were mentioned as part of the fields of interest for development.
The Engineering and Development Manager of the National Iranian Oil Company continued: "Negotiations are also underway for the development of the Yadavaran field with domestic and foreign investors, and we hope these negotiations will yield results in the shortest possible time."
Facilitating investment at the national level
Aghabati referred to the actions taken to facilitate investment in the upstream oil industry and said: "The National Iranian Oil Company, in cooperation with the government and the Planning and Budget Organization, has received a resolution from the Cabinet that, based on the regulations for the development and increase of gas field production and the allocation of produced gas to energy-intensive industrial units and petrochemical units, has created a suitable capacity for attracting investment from these industries in the development of gas fields."
He also mentioned the use of preliminary contracts to accelerate the development of fields and said: "The National Iranian Oil Company has put a strategy called signing preliminary and initial contracts on its agenda to begin some of the initial actions and preparations for field development."
According to Aghabati, Iran, with the third-largest proven oil reserves and the second-largest proven gas reserves in the world, has significant capacities in this area. Converting potential reserves into actual and sustainable production capacity is one of the main tasks of the upstream development sector of the oil and gas industry, which has seen significant actions in this regard during the fourteenth government.
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