The Annual Offshore Oil & Gas Event
logo

The 25thBeijing International Offshore Oil & Gas Exhibition

ufi

BEIJING,CHINA

March 26-28,2025

LOCATION :Home> News > Industry News

Iranian political battles pose risk for oil contracts

Pubdate:2016-02-02 10:07 Source:mcc Click:
TEHRAN (Dow Jones) -- Iran is struggling to finalize the terms under which foreign energy companies can drill for oil there, as a political battle rages between the country's more moderate forces and its conservative hard-liners. 
 
Iranian oil officials canceled a conference set to be held this month in London where Iranian officials had said new contracts for Western companies would be presented. Officials blamed the cancellations on the inability to secure enough British visas for the event. 
 
According to people familiar with the matter, another reason for the conference's cancellation are conservative factions—inside and outside the energy industry—that believe the contracts drawn up by President Hassan Rouhani's oil ministry are too generous to foreign companies. At a time of low oil prices, the country also is under pressure from international oil companies to sweeten the terms of agreements known as Iranian Petroleum Contracts. 
 
The disagreements have delayed the publication of the contracts' final terms, the people said. 
 
"The contracts are simply not ready," one of the people said.
 
Production
 
The controversy over the new contracts underscores the challenges Iran faces in rebuilding its oil industry into the global powerhouse it was before western sanctions over its nuclear program crippled its exports. Global crude-oil prices slid to their lowest levels in a decade in January on fears that new Iranian production would add to the world's oversupply. 
 
Iran is trying to ramp up its production by 500,000 bopd in the next few months and by 1 MMbopd by the end of the year. By the end of 2020, the country seeks to nearly double oil production capacity to 5.7 MMbpd. 
 
To accomplish this, Iran would need the help of the western oil giants that once worked there. France's Total SA and Russia's Lukoil have signed preliminary agreements to re-enter Iranian oil and gas fields. But they are unlikely to return until the terms of the contracts are set. 
 
The contracts are a sensitive political matter in Iran because the country bans foreign ownership of its natural resources like oil and gas. For decades until 1979, western oil companies owned Iran's oil, stirring resentment. Before sanctions, Iran's contracts for foreign companies were seen as inflexible money-losers in the industry. 
 
Iran has laid out the broad terms of the new deals, saying they would allow flexibility in recovering costs and an involvement in the development of oil fields of typically 20 years.
 
But 19 appendices on topics such as crude liftings, accountancy rules or arbitration, which would be a key part of any contract, have yet to be completed, according to people familiar with the matter. 
 
Dissension 
 
The delay is due to disagreements between members of the committee tasked to draft the deals, along with dissension from within the broader state-run National Iranian Oil Co., they said. 
 
Mehdi Hosseini, the head of the committee, and Ali Kardor, the national oil company's director in charge of foreign investment, didn't return requests for comment by email and telephone. 
 
In addition to technical clauses, some oil officials disagree on whether foreign companies should be required to develop natural gas and how to involve private Iranian companies with little experience of managing exploration and production projects. 
 
But behind the internal debates, lie two main concerns, "the low oil prices and political opposition," said another person familiar with the matter. 
 
Some oil officials are worried the contracts won't be attractive enough to offset the majors' reluctance to invest globally due to low oil prices. Others fear mounting criticism by hard-liners who say the deals would give too much away of the country's natural wealth. 
 
The new deals have been criticized by the Basij, a hard-line militia formed to uphold the principles of the Islamic Republic. On Saturday, members of Basij's student wing were arrested after protesting against the contracts, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. 
 
But in an interview with the oil ministry's Shana news agency that same day, Mr. Kardor denied such criticism was behind the cancellation of the conference. 
主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧美成人国产精品高潮| chinese18国产高清| 西西4444www大胆无码| 日韩美女在线观看一区| 国产日产精品_国产精品毛片| 亚洲人成在线播放| 五月婷婷激情网| 最近免费韩国电影hd免费观看| 国产欧美日韩精品丝袜高跟鞋 | 中文字幕亚洲色图| 欧美另类videosbestsex高清| 国产精品电影在线| 亚洲免费人成在线视频观看| 大尺度视频网站久久久久久久久| 欧美三级视频在线| 国产成人亚洲精品大帝| 久久精品国产亚洲精品| 被公侵犯肉体中文字幕电影| 新梅瓶1一5集在线观看| 午夜精品久久久久久99热| japanese日本熟妇多毛| 欧美黄色片免费观看| 国产精品一级片| 久久精品WWW人人爽人人| 色多多成视频人在线观看| 成人小视频在线观看免费| 免费一级毛片不卡在线播放| 99RE66在线观看精品免费| 欧美亚洲欧美区| 国产又色又爽又黄刺激在线视频| 中文字幕第4页| 男女超爽视频免费播放| 国产色视频免费| 久碰人澡人澡人澡人澡91| 草莓视频黄瓜视频| 好男人www社区| 亚洲字幕在线观看| 香蕉97超级碰碰碰免费公| 性生活大片免费看| 亚洲欧美日韩久久精品第一区 | 天堂久久久久久中文字幕|