Iran will launch after January 2017 its first new-style tender to develop oil and gas fields since the lifting of sanctions, an oil official said on Monday, noting that the deadline to submit pre-qualification documents has been extended until December 10. Opec's third largest oil producer hopes its new Iran Petroleum Contracts (IPC), part of an effort to sweeten the terms it offers on oil development deals, will attract foreign companies and boost production after years of under-investment.
Ali Kardor, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said that 50 international oil companies have submitted their documents for the tender so far. "We will assess the documents for a month and after that, probably after January, the first oil tender will be held ... for South Azadegan oil field," Kardor said in an interview with ISNA on Monday.
Some analysts said Iran's IPCs do not seem attractive enough to raise billions of dollars in foreign direct investment at a time of low oil prices, especially when compared with neighbouring Iraq's new oil contracts that enabled it to boost its output. Kardor said Iran has extended the deadline for international oil companies to submit pre-qualification documents for tender from November 25 to December 10. This seems to be the second extension as the NIOC's website said in late November that the deadline had been extended to December 4.
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