Rehabilitation and Expansion of Iran’s Oil Sector in the Post-Nuclear Deal Era: Programs, Problems and Uncertainties

Year 2016, Volume: 21 Issue: 3, 33 - 66, 01.01.2016

Sujata Ashwarya

Abstract

In the post-nuclear deal scenario, Iran has reformulated the terms of the oil contract model, called the Iran Petroleum Contract IPC , to attract international investments and technology in field development. In addition, it has ramped up production and competitively priced its oil to Asia and Europe so as to recapture the market share lost during the sanctions period. Any further enhancement of production capacity, however, requires expansion of green fields and resuscitation of brown fields under the IPC. The success of this effort will depend upon Iran’s domestic political stability as much as the international environment, where sanctions are held in abeyance and oil prices continue to rise to a level that unlocks the investment capital of the big oil companies. Nonetheless, in a scenario of increasing global commitment to adopt green energy, whether oil companies would still want to make long-term investments in large hydrocarbon projects in general, remains an open question

Keywords

Iranian Nuclear Deal, International Sanctions, Post-Sanctions Dynamics, Iranian Oil Sector, Foreign Investment Scenario, Iran Petroleum Contract, Changing Global Energy.

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