Iranian Oil Minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, said that the government is expected to approve a new model oil contract designed to attract investors, Kallanish Energy reported. According to Iran Front Page, the contracts were amended to enable Iran to develop between 10 to 15 new oil and gas fields by issuing tenders for exploration and development of the oil fields already before the end of July 2016.

The new Iran Petroleum Contracts (IPC) model will allay the concerns of both domestic critics and foreign companies as it is planned to replace Iran’s buyback oil deals.

Under a buyback deal, the host government was to pay the contractor an agreed price for all volumes of hydrocarbons the contractor produced. Under the IPC, however, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will set up joint ventures for crude oil and gas production with international companies, which will be paid with a share of the output.

Zanganeh commented on the new decision in an interview: “One of the most important challenges is to benefit from several joint fields.

” He added: “Iran needs to increase the amount of oil it can produce from fields and for this we need technology and management more than finances and this is why we have drafted new contracts.”