Lukoil set to sign oilfield contracts with Iran

Russia’s energy giant Lukoil expects to sign contracts with Iran to develop oilfields in 3-4 months, announced the company’s CEO Vagit Alekperov.

National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) announced that the tenders for the development of Mansouri and Shanguleh oilfields were floated in the summer of 2017, sputniknews.com reported.

Lukoil has presented Iran with its plan for the development of the Mansouri project. But on par with that, Iran is also taking into consideration the plan submitted by the Indonesian firm Pertamina, which has also applied for the tender to develop the field.

Lukoil is the favorite to win the tender.

An independent Iranian expert on energy security, Omid Shokri Kaleh’sar, told Sputnik, “Last August, Lukoil presented Iran with a project to develop the Mansouri oilfield with the goal that in March 2018, the parties would sign the final version of the agreement.”

The expert added, during the meeting, Alekperov expressed interest in developing the Iranian energy sector.

Given the total volumes of Iranian oil, Alekperov said the company would not be able to work on all Iranian oilfields, only concentrating on two of them — the Mansouri and the Abe Teimur fields.

Both oilfields are located in Khuzestan Province in southwest Iran.