Iran hasn’t been in contact with representatives in the US oil sector, said Mehdi Hosseni, the head of a contract revision committee in the Iranian Oil Ministry.
Iran aims to do away with buy-back contract offers, whereby the host country agrees to buy produced hydrocarbons at a set price, and replace them with joint venture projects in an effort to woo foreign companies back to the Iranian energy sector.
Hosseni said nearly a dozen new exploration and production projects are envisioned under the terms ofa new contract regimeunder review.
Iran’s oil minister in early March hosted multinational corporate representatives at a four-day energy conference in Tehran. Prior to the event, the Iranian government said it expected a US presence at the event.
“We are in regular contacts with companies from Europe and Asia, but there has been no contact yet with American companies,” Hosseni said on May 17.
Iranian oil production of 2.7 million barrels per day has remained relatively steady since 2013. Exports are limited by sanctions to around 1 million barrels per day and to only six other countries. Sanctions imposed on Iran’s energy sector, however, could be lifted if a framework nuclear agreement is finalised this summer.
See also: EU, Central Asia, Iran mull energy connections
In a monthly review, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries noted the Iranian government viewed its oil industry as very attractive to foreign investors, including those from the US and European economies.
The US State Department saidsanctions are still in placeon Iran. The country, a spokesman said, “is not open for business yet”.
Hosseini also suggested that it will have to wait for the outcomes of the current nuclear talks with P5+1 before unveiling the new model of its oil sector contracts that it hopes would lure investors into its oil and gas projects.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Rokneddin Javadi said his country hopes to return its crude oil exports to pre-sanctions levels within three months once a deal with regarding the country’s nuclear program is reached and sanctions are lifted, said “We hope we can come back to the export levels that we had before the sanctions,” Reuters quoted Javadi, who is also the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company,as saying. He said Iran thinks it is possible to reach these levels in three to six months.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/iran-eyes-foreign-cash-if-sanctions-are-lifted/