The companies that have been found as eligible for partnership with foreigners include old names Petropars, Oil Industries’ Engineering and Construction (OIEC), Dana Energy Company, and Petroiran Development Company (PEDCO).
The rest are companies that have developed their technical oil industry capabilities over the past few years. They are MAPNA Group, Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters, Industrial Projects Management of Iran (IPMI) and Persia Oil and Gas Development Company. IPMI is an affiliate of Iran Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO) and Persia Oil and Gas Development Company is an affiliate of the Executive Headquarters of Imam’s Directive.
Their announcement as the companies that have the minimum capabilities to cooperate with international companies has been made by Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum.
Deputy Petroleum Minister for Research and Technology Affairs Mohammad-Reza Moqaddam has been quoted by the media as saying that the companies have been picked from a list of 37 locals. The companies – designated as exploration and development (E&P) companies – should be only involved in E&P activities and should not be involved in any procurement activities, Moqaddam added.
The official added that an extra nine companies have been given a deadline of two months to take the required measures so that the Ministry of Petroleum would study their potentials and include them in the list of E&P companies.
Iran has already announced that it will unveil a series of new oil sector projects later this year. The projects will be developed through the country’s new format of contracts – Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC).
IPC is replacing buyback deals. Under a buyback deal, the host government agrees to pay the contractor an agreed price for all volumes of hydrocarbons the contractor produces.
But under the IPC, international companies will set up joint ventures with local E&P contractors for crude oil and gas production and will be paid with a share of the output.
Under the IPC, different stages of exploration, development and production will be offered to contractors as an integrated package, with the emphasis laid on enhanced and improved recovery.
Architects of the new contract say foreign companies can no longer dash out of their contractual obligations if sanctions are ever re-imposed on Iran. But critics cite numerous shortcomings which seriously plague the new formula.
Source: / Presstv /