Media reports indicate that Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi offered production sharing contracts (PSCs) to Indian the oil and gas exploration companies that are investing in the Persian gulf nation.
The country’s foreign minister is learnt to have made the offer during an India-Iran Joint Commission meeting with Indian external affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in Tehran recently. It may be noted that this signifies a U-turn by the Iranian government as PSCs contract was long denied to foreign investors by it earlier.
Tehran’s insistence, until now, on paying contractors back in oil made projects unattractive to foreign firms even before sanctions made it nearly impossible for most to work there.
According to Iranian media reports, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has been drafting production sharing contracts in the hope of attracting Asian companies, which are not banned by their governments from operating in Iran, to invest in its run-down industry.
Indian firms say the risks of investing large sums in Iran are still too great, even with a more attractive PSC regime.
But Indian companies are hesitant to invest in the nation because of international sanctions and non-availability of services and material required for execution projects.
It may be recalled that some months ago Indian Oil Corp, ONGC Videsh and Oil India, who have stakes in a gas field in Iran, told a US government watchdog they had no plans to pursue further work on the project.
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