Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has suspended for one year the award of any major new oil contracts to foreign companies in an apparent concession to mounting pressure from hardliners, Khaleej Times reports.
The move is a setback for the liberalization efforts of the past seven years, during which Iran opened its vast petroleum reserves to the outside world for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Zanganeh stated that pending oil deals were shelved, due to declining world interest in energy investments.
Teheran has so far signed deals worth $10 billion under buy-back contracts, which provides foreign investors with the opportunity to recoup their costs from sales during a fixed number of years. – (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
