Referring to the Second National Conference on Energy Law to be held on October 12-13 in Tehran, he said, “The event which will focus on oil, gas, refinery, and petrochemical sectors, coincides with lifting of international sanctions against Iran and, therefore, it has a special importance.”

On the revision of petroleum contracts which was started by the government of President Hassan Rouhani, the official said, “One should wait before new conditions in international relations of oil and gas law emerge. The issues governing this field in general, and the country’s energy sector in particular, still require further analysis.”

Mahrokhzad who is also the upcoming conference’s secretary, said it has on the working agenda the analysis of major legal-contractual issues in oil and gas industry and promotion of its capacity, and settlement of upstream and downstream sectors.

Member of the NIOC board of directors stressed raising the quantitative and qualitative standards in the Petroleum Ministry’s legal and contract department, training of skilled staff in negotiations and signing of contracts, primacy of feed-backing principle, monitoring of legal procedures, time scheduling, and the interaction between technical, financial, executive, and marketing concerns with negotiations.

A petroleum ministry committee has been modifying the terms of oil contracts in order to sweeten them for foreign companies. The new model, known as Iran Petroleum Contract (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.