Foreign Oil Companies Ready to Return to Iran – Minister

Iran said it’s received “positive” feedback from international oil companies regarding new contracts with foreign investors if and when nuclear sanctions are lifted, the country’s oil minister said on Saturday.

“So far the feedback has been positive, we want a win-win contract so the foreigners can come,” Iran Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said in Vienna on Friday while attending a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, IRNA news agency reported.

Mr. Zangeneh met earlier this week with the heads of a number of foreign oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Eni SpA, Total SA and Russia’s Lukoil.

For the first time in years, European oil companies openly declared their interest in Iran in anticipation of a possible end to sanctions against the country over its nuclear program.

US oil companies are more cautious, but ConocoPhillips said it would consider Iran if the conditions were right.

Tehran sees the return of foreign firms as the key to reviving its oil industry and a major benefit from a nuclear deal with the United States and other world powers.

Iran needs $200 billion of investment in its oil industry, Zangeneh said last month, adding that US companies were welcomed back, alongside the Europeans, the IRNA report said.