Iran’s National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a consortium that includes Japan’s engineering group Toyo to revamp facilities and upgrade gas production at the Salman field in the Gulf
NIOC, Petropars, and Toyo will finance studies for the rehabilitation project, and if it goes ahead, it will be executed under an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Finance (EPCF) contract, with the Japanese firm financing the project, according to Gholamreza Manouchehri, deputy for development and engineering at NIOC.
This follows the signature of the landmark contract with France’s Total to develop phase 11 of the South Pars gas field in Iran the world’s biggest gas field – marking the first Iranian Petroleum Contract (IPC) with a Western major since the lifting of sanctions..
Deputy Minister of Petroleum for International Affairs HE Dr Amir Hosssein Zamaninia said the deal with Total has set the ball rolling for the conclusion of more contracts with international companies.
“I can assure you this isn't the last one. We'll see other contracts being made within the next few weeks," Zamaninia was quoted as saying on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul last week.
Zamaninia cited BP, Russia's Gazprom and Lukoil, and Malaysia's Petronas among the international companies which were having discussions with the country.
According to news agency Shana, Manouchehri said that the Rouhani administration had tasked NIOC to sign 10 oil and gas deals with energy majors by the end of the current Iranian year, March 20, 2018.
In the upstream sector, 53 projects are currently prioritised with an estimated US$108bn sought in foreign investment.
