SOCAR to participate in tender for development of Iran’s oil fields

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    The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has expanded the list of companies that will be able to participate in the tender for the development of oil and gas fields in the country.

    The number of foreign companies that can participate in the tender for the development of Iranian deposits reached 34, including Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, Russian Gazprom Neft, Rosneft, Tatneft and Zarubezhneft.

    The expansion took place on the eve of the tender for the development of the large Azadegan oil field, which is to be held on June 19. This will be the first tender in Iran to be held under the terms of a new model of agreements designed to replace the less successful previous version.

    The NIOC, with a vast amount of oil and gas resources, is one of the world’s largest oil companies. At the present time, it is estimated that the company holds 156.53 billion barrels of liquid hydrocarbons and 33.79 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.

    The International Monetary Fund’s estimates that Iran’s crude oil output would increase from 4.1 mb/d in 2017 to 5.4 mb/d by 2022. Wood Mackenzie’s estimations also indicate that Iran’s crude oil (without gas condensate) would increase from 3.899 mb/d in 2017 to 4.29 mb/d in 2022.

    Iran introduced 49 oil and gas fields to foreign investors based on newly designed oil contract, called the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) in 2015.

    Previously, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that about $20-$30 billion worth of foreign investments are expected to be attracted based on the IPC.

    SOCAR is a wholly state-owned national oil company headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company produces oil and natural gas from onshore and offshore fields in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea.

    At present, SOCAR is the only producer of petroleum products in the country, and operates more than 370 petrol stations in Switzerland, Georgia, Romania and Ukraine. SOCAR is also a co-owner of Turkey’s largest petrochemical complex Petkim and other assets in Turkey.