BP says it looks for opportunities in Iran’s upstream oil industry as the country prepares to roll out new contracts for boosting recovery from its ageing fields.
"If the sanctions are relaxed in a way that allows us to go work there, obviously we would explore opportunities in Iran," CEO Bob Dudley told reporters in London.
“As a company that works all over the globe it would be natural for us" to work in Iran, he added.
BP and other energy giants such as Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Eni have rushed to talks with Iranian officials to be the first in line for the country’s new projects.
Last week, an official said Iran has marked out as many as 50 oil and gas projects worth $185 billion for presentation to prospective investors within 2-3 months along with the new contract models.
Iran plans to present its opportunities in upstream oil and gas at a London conference later this year.
Dudley said his company was anxious to see the details of Iran’s new Integrated Petroleum Contract (IPC).
"There's some speculation out there -- various things, maybe service contracts, or PSAs, or tax and royalty -- but actually it is not clear to us what their plans are," he said.
Last Thursday, Deputy Minister of Petroleum Hossein Zamaninia told the Iran-EU trade and investment conference in Vienna that IPC addresses some of the deficiencies of the traditional buy-back deals, taking short- and long-term interests of the foreign entities to heart.
Iran’s priority is to improve recovery from its ageing oilfields and develop both onshore and offshore reserves shared with its neighbors in the south and the west. For those fields, Zamaninia said, Iran was ready to sign contracts for a period of 20-25 years.
Iran plans to increase its oil production by 500,000 barrels per day within two months and 1 million barrels per day within six to seven months after the sanctions against the country are lifted.
BP owes Iran a debt from the sale of gas produced at North Sea’s Rhum field in which the National Iranian Oil Company has a 50% stake. Iran’s revenues from the field are frozen in an account in London under the sanctions regime.