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Bloomberg
Iran plans to invite international companies to bid for oilfield development rights in June, a government official said, as the Persian Gulf country seeks to revive its energy industry after years of crippling sanctions.
The Oil Ministry will solicit bids in a tender round starting June 21 and running for a month, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported Tuesday, citing Mehdi Hosseini, chairman of the ministry’s oil contracts revision committee. National Iranian Oil Co. is working on a model investment contract for any development agreements, he said.
Iran is rebuilding its oil and natural gas industries and restoring sales of crude after international sanctions were lifted in January. The country, which will meet other OPEC members this week in Vienna, is targeting an increase in production and exports to pre-sanctions levels. It refused to join other producers in a push to freeze output at a meeting in Doha in April.
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Iran’s oil exports have doubled since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries last met in December, the Oil Ministry’s Shana news service reported Wednesday, citing Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. “This production boost has not only had no negative impact on the market, but rather it has been well absorbed by the market,†he said.
Benchmark Brent crude, which has gained 33 percent this year, was 46 cents lower at $49.43 a barrel on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. in London. Foreign companies have been awaiting details of the investment contracts and bidding rules since Iran in November identified about 70 oil and gas fields that it would offer.