Iran in talks with world oil giants: Official

Iranian Oil Ministry officials are negotiating with world oil giants to attract them back into Iran’s energy sector as nuclear talks with world powers make headway, a deputy oil minister says.

“Simultaneous with overtures at the international level and the success of nuclear negotiators, numerous [rounds of] talks are underway by senior [Iranian] Oil Ministry officials with renowned international companies,” Emad Hosseini said on Friday.

He added that Iran Oil Ministry is inviting international firms based on national interests.

“The upstream oil sector and development of joint fields, particularly South Pars [gas field], are among the priorities of the petroleum industry,” said Hosseini.

Last month, Mohammad Souri, a top aide to Iran Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, said world oil giants plan to return to Iran in light of the easing of sanctions against the Iranian energy sector.

“Companies like [Royal Dutch] Shell and British Petroleum (BP), Malaysia’s Petronas, Spain’s Repsol and several other big world oil and gas companies will return to Iran and oil activities with these companies will resume,” Souri said.

France’s Total and Italy’s Eni have also expressed willingness to resume work in Iran.

Earlier this month, Russia’s second largest oil producer, Lukoil, said the country’s oil companies are ready to return to Iran energy market.

On January 20, the Council of the European Union suspended part of the sanctions it had imposed against Iran following the nuclear deal between Tehran and the six world powers – the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 2013.