Iran Talking With 16 Investors to Bid on Oil and Gas Projects

EghtesadOnline: Iran is negotiating with 16 international energy companies to help operate and manage 50 oil and natural gas projects around the country to boost production after years of international sanctions.

News ID: ۷۳۷۶۰۴

20 October 2016

The projects are feasible even with oil at $40 a barrel, Gholam-Reza Manouchehri, a deputy director of the National Iranian Oil Co., told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday. The South Azadegan field on Iran’s southwestern border will be the first deal announced, and probably needs $10 billion to add 600,000 barrels a day of output, he said.

“We have a lot of companies approaching NIOC,” Manouchehri said. “I’m not sure when we’ll sign the first contract. I hope it will be earlier” than a year from now.

According to Bloomberg, Iran is recovering from sanctions that strangled its economy and choked off investment in its oil and gas industry. An easing of sanctions in January has allowed the country to ramp up oil exports, to 2 million barrels a day in July from 1.4 million at the end of last year, Joint Organisations Data Initiative data show. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading at about $52 a barrel on Wednesday.

$200 Billion

The Persian Gulf nation is seeking to boost production at oil and gas fields, and will need about $200 billion over the next four years for energy investments, according to figures provided by Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh on Tuesday.

The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday that economic conditions in Iran are improving and forecast growth of 4.5 percent this year compared with 0.4 percent in 2015.

Iran wants to produce about 4 million barrels of crude a day to regain its pre-sanctions share of the market, Zanganeh said Tuesday. Iran’s output was 3.63 million barrels a day in September, data compiled by Bloomberg show.