The deputy head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said on Wednesday the development of the South Azadegan oilfield will be out to tender, dismissing reports that the project will be awarded to France’s oil giant Total without its participation in the bid.
“The NIOC has no intention to entrust the development of South Azadegan oilfield to any company without a tender,” Gholamreza Manouchehri told .
The deputy minister added that the development project will “definitely” be put out to “an international tender”.
He said Total is one of the companies that has announced its readiness to sign a contract with NIOC and participate in the project, adding that it is just one of the companies that qualifies for the project.
In January, Mahmoud Marashi, the project manager of South Azadegan at Iran’s Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC), said NIOC had discussed the South Azadegan project with Total as well as other European and Asian contractors.
Iran discovered Azadegan oil field in 1999 which is the world's third largest oilfield with in-place reserves of about 33.2 billion barrels and recoverable resources of about 6 billion barrels.
Iran first awarded the development of South Azadegan to Japan’s Inpex but had to terminate it after five years. The country terminated another contract with China's CNPC after seeing the company drag its feet on developing the field.
Iran is now seeking foreign investment in the development of South Azadegan, which it shares with Iraq, after the removal of anti-Tehran sanctions as part of last July’s nuclear deal with world powers.
The country has five joint fields with Iraq, which include North Azadegan, South Azadegan, North Yaran, South Yaran and Yadavaran.
