Iran to hold first IPC tender in February

Iran will hold its first tender for an oilfield development using the Iranian Petroleum Contract in February, an official said earlier this week.

The tender is for development of the South Azadegan oilfield.

Gholamreza Manouchehri, deputy head of the National Iranian Oil Company, on Tuesday said documents for the tender are close to being finalised, and its launch is expected in four weeks.

The South Azadegan field is among Iran’s largest oil plays, with an estimated 5.2 billion barrels of recoverable crude.

Earlier in January, an Iranian official said Inpex was “one step ahead” of its rivals and stood a “chance to win the Azadegan tender,” citing the Japanese major’s previous experience in the field.

The field was discovered in 1999 and had been under development by China National Petroleum Corporation until April 2014.

The National Iranian Oil Company has in recent months signed memorandums of understanding and confidentiality agreements with several major oil companies for studies of the field. These include Inpex, Total, Shell, Russneft and Petronas.