July 22, 2016
Iran will issue a preliminary list of international oil companies eligible to bid to develop its oil and gas fields within the next two weeks, a senior Iranian oil official said Monday.
“Not all foreign companies active in the oil industry can participate in Iran’s tenders,” Ali Kardor, the new managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s SHANA news agency Monday. “Only those international companies that meet the standards of the NIOC will be chosen.”
Kardor said that, apart from US companies, which are barred by the United States from doing business in Iran, there were only around 37 companies in the world that might meet Iran’s standards.
He said companies would only be eligible if they are registered as exploration and production companies and are also rated by Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s or Fitch, the three international credit rating agencies.
“After creating the first list of international companies, a limited tender will be held,” Kardor said.
The tenders will be based on Iran’s International Petroleum Contract (IPC), a matrix that is yet to be approved by the regime as hardliners lobby for terms that are less friendly to international oil firms.
Kardor reiterated Monday what he said a few weeks ago, that alongside the IPC, oilfields could still be developed through buy-backs or engineering, procurement, construction and financing contracts.