Iran will offer the development of three natural gas fields to investors at a conference in London, Ali-Akbar Shabanpour, the managing-director of Pars Oil and Gas Company, said Wednesday.
'Development of North Pars, Golshan and Ferdowsi gas fields will be offered to investors at the upcoming London conference,' Shabanpour was quoted saying by Iranian petro energy information network SHANA.
North Pars offshore gas field is located in Persian Gulf and holds 1.7 trillion cubic meters (tcm) of gas, while Golshan gas field, which is located south of Iran, is estimated to hold 1.3 to 1.7 tcm. Ferdowsi gas field, which is also located offshore in Persian Gulf, holds around 0.3 to 0.4 tcm of gas.
Despite holding the largest proven gas reserves in the world with 34 trillion cubic meters, in 2014 Iran was the fourth biggest gas producer, after the U.S., Russia and Qatar, with an output of 173 billion cubic meters, according to BP's Statistical Review of World Energy 2015 published on June 10.
In addition, Iran will offer the South Pars oil layer, which is estimated to hold 7 billion barrels of oil in reserves, Iran's Press TV reported.
The conference in London, which will be held on December, will present $185 billion-worth projects in Iran for investment, according to Press TV.
Iran will also introduce its new contract model, Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC), in London conference to attract foreign investment into its oil and gas industry.
With the new model, international oil companies (IOCs) can establish joint ventures with the National Iranian Oil Company to participate in almost every aspect of energy deals and projects, from management and exploration to development and production.
Meanwhile, Tehran hopes IOCs to provide the necessary means to reverse decline rates in Iran's mature fields and help Iran transfer know-how and technology from IOCs.
IPC will also have a life of between 20 to 25 years - much longer than the obsolete buyback models, which only gave IOCs around half of that time and allowed them to be involved only in the exploration and development phases of energy projects.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
ovunc.kutlu@aa.com.tr