Iran has confirmed the names of five Iranian companies that it has identified as partners for international energy majors seeking to invest in the Islamic republic, taking it a step closer to opening up its oil and gasfields to western investment.
Gholamreza Manouchehri, the deputy head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), told the Financial Times that the companies already selected included Petroiran, Petropars, Mapna Group, Oil Industries Engineering and Construction group (OIEC) and Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO). But he said that a complete list was still being finalized. The list also included companies Danaenergy, Jahanpars and Petrogohar, which have yet to be confirmed by the ministry.
The names of the companies has been eagerly awaited by western energy companies such as BP, Total and Eni, as they hope to gain access to the OPEC member’s oil and gas reserves after years of sanctions.
Iran, which sits on the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves and some of its largest gas reserves, has since been courting investors but has delayed announcing the terms of its contracts.
It has roughly doubled oil exports to more than 2m barrels a day since January, and is seeking to attract almost $200bn of western investment to boost production by at least 600,000 barrels a day within five years.
Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iran’s oil minister, said on Sunday that Iran, once the second largest OPEC producer, expected to sign a first post-sanctions oil contract with a foreign company within three months.
But US energy majors, including ExxonMobil and Chevron face an additional wait as Washington maintains sanctions prohibiting US entities dealing with Iranian companies, with a few special cases such as airlines.
