Iran is in the process of offering exploration rights to foreign companies and joint ventures for some new oil and gas fields in the Gulf and Oman Sea, according to a senior Iranian government official. Joint seismic surveys have already been carried out with some foreign experts in certain blocks and some surveys are under way in other blocks to assess the availability of energy sources, a deputy Iranian minister was quoted as saying to Petronews in Tehran recently. “We are conducting joint seismic surveys with some foreign companies in Oman Sea, Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf to determine the level of oil and gas reserves in the region. We are developing new energy blocks and would invite foreign exploration companies and joint ventures to invest in the energy sector,” said Mehdi Mirmoezi, Iran’s Deputy Minister of Petroleum and president of National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) in Tehran.
Iran currently has 15.8 per cent of the world’s gas reserves and 8 per cent of this lies in the South Pars gas field – the largest gas field in the world. Almost half of the field’s 14 sub-fields have been awarded. The remaining are in the process of being tendered.
