Iran touts new contracts for domestic oil companies

TEHRAN, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Iran is on its way to reaching its production goals for the 2020s with the start of operations at oil fields under a new contract model, the government said.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency reports contracts were signed with four domestic oil companies to enhance recovery from oil fields in Iran. According to IRNA, these are the first contracts signed under a new contract model.

The report offered few specifics about the new terms other than to say it guarantees an increase in the recovery factor from domestic oil fields.

"In its third draft, [the government] considered the concerns of the critics and sympathizers of the establishment; and the board on conformity declared the new oil contract in compliance with upstream regulations," the report read.

Iran aims to boost crude oil production by about double the current rate to around 5.7 million bpd by 2021.

Iranian oil exports have increased substantially since December, the month before Western-backed sanctions were eased after confirmation the country was meeting its international nuclear research assurance obligations. Bijan Zangeneh, the country's oil minister, said this week new contracts with foreign companies could be signed by March under the new contract terms.

According to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Iran reported total crude oil production in August was 3.6 million bpd, an increase of 7 percent from the first quarter of the year.

Iran last week moved behind an agreement reached in Algeria to cap production for members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, but said it reserved the right to work to regain a market share lost to sanctions.