TEHRAN Nov. 29 (Shana) � National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will not interfere in choosing Iranian partners by foreign firms interested in operating in Iran under the new oil contract model, a senior Iranian oil official said.

Seyed Mehdi Hosseini, the chairman of Iran�s Oil Contracts Restructuring Committee at the Ministry of Petroleum, said on Saturday that Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) is not buyback, adding that NIOC no more influences the selection of domestic partners by foreigner under IPC.
Speaking in a Q&A session with reporters on the evening of the first day of the two-day conference, Hosseini said Iran will put all its projects to tender and like all other contracts, IPC entails a time frame in accordance with the interests and preferences of Iranian petroleum ministry and NIOC.

"The conference allows international companies to weigh the projects Iran has offered under IPC, which, I believe, will take one or two months," he said.
After the period, said Hosseini who also presided over the Tehran conference, NIOC will decide what companies will be operating on what projects.

Iran has pitched dozens of oil and natural gas projects valued at $30 billion to foreign investors at the conference as the Persian Gulf country prepares for the end of sanctions that have stifled its energy production.
Iran�s oil exports fell to an average 1.4 million barrels a day last year from 2.6 million in 2011 due to the sanctions on the country, U.S. Energy Information Administration data show. U.S. sanctions on Iran limit it to selling about 1 million barrels of crude a day to China, India, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and Taiwan, with additional purchases of condensate, a light oil liquid found in gas deposits, also allowed.

The IPC terms took two years to be devised by the ministry and be endorsed by the Rouhani administration, and the projects introduced under IPC are hoped to meet a part of Iran's need for developing its oil and gas industry, said he said prior to the conference.
IPC is replacing buyback deals. Under a buyback deal, the host government agrees to pay the contractor an agreed price for all volumes of hydrocarbons the contractor produces.

But under the IPC, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will set up joint ventures for crude oil and gas production with international companies which will be paid with a share of the output.
In the wake of nuclear deal reached last July, Iran has been receiving high-ranking officials and corporate executives of major companies including from Germany, Spain, Austria, Italy, and France to discuss new cooperation ventures.

Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh has said that Iran welcomes foreign investment in its energy industry, but stresses technology transfer by foreign partners in the new contracts.

By SHANA