Iran ramps up efforts to receive more foreign investment in its energy sector by naming five domestic companies to work as partners with international majors, says a report.

The deputy head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Gholamreza Manouchehri, has told the Financial Times that Petroiran Development Co., along with Petropars and the Mapna Group, is on the current list, which is yet to be finalized.

The two other companies are said to be Oil Industries Engineering and Construction group (OIEC), an oil contractor, and the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO) - a conglomerate active throughout Iran’s economy.

The FT report *said the Islamic Republic was thus taking a step closer to opening up its oil and gas fields to international investment. Petroiran is an NIOC subsidiary and tasked with onshore and offshore development. Petropars has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with one German company and held talks with foreign investors. Mapna is an Iranian power and infrastructure group. It signed an agreement with Siemens in March that will see the German company provide two gas turbines to a power plant in the southern port of Bandar Abbas, FT added.

It has been reported also that Iran and the Spanish energy company, Repsol S.A., have signed an agreement that doubles Iranian oil exports to the European country. Iranian media reports said Saturday that the deal allows Repsol to buy one million barrels of oil from Iran in July. The deal between the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Repsol comes after another Spanish buyer, Cepsa (Spanish Petroleum Company), reached an agreement earlier this month on the shipment of Iranian crude to Spain. On June 11, the NIOC’s director for international affairs, Mohsen Qamsari announced that Iran had signed agreements for the sale of crude oil to European companies.

Iran’s oil exports are currently close to pre-sanction levels of around 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd), a recent report by Reuters said, citing shipping data by traders.

The names of the companies has been eagerly awaited by international energy companies such as BP, Total and Eni, as they hope to gain access to the OPEC member’s oil and gas reserves after years of sanctions. Anti-Iran sanctions were lifted in January in the aftermath of last July’s nuclear agreement. Iran and the permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany (P5+1) signed a nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) last year, which took effect on January 16, and allows sanctions relief in return for curbs on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said last week that the country, once the second largest OPEC producer, expected to sign the first post-sanctions oil contract with a foreign company within three months. Iran, which has the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves and second biggest gas reserves, has recently almost doubled oil exports to more than two million barrels per day (bpd) since January.

Tehran seeks to attract almost $200 billion of foreign investment to boost production by at least 600,000bpd within the next five years.

Source: PressTV, Date: 26.June.2016