An Iranian worker walks near the phase 12 of the South Pars gas field near the southern town of Kangan on the shore of the Gulf. Iran’s oil ministry said yesterday it is preparing a new type of contract that would be more attractive to major oil companies in case of the lifting of international sanctions. A committee formed at the oil ministry to iron out the new type of contracts is expected to finish its work by May or June, ministry official Mehdi Hosseini who heads the team, told reporters. The new contracts would replace buyback types under which contractors funded projects and got paid in the form of an allocated production share—a system applied for more than 20 years in Iran. “The reality is that these contracts were one-sided and only beneficial to Iran. Foreign companies were complaining,” Hosseini said.
