"Petronas executives indicated the company's interest to expand its ties with NIOC," said Roknoddin Javadi, managing director of NIOC, after the meeting. 

The representatives came from 45 countries. Totally, 335 companies have participated in the two-day event to be the first to know about the contract terms. 

The contract 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 Mehdi Hosseini, head of the conference and the official in charge of devising the new contract terms at Iran's Ministry of Petroleum.

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.

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.

Petronas announced last quarter that its cash from operations wasn't able to cover its capital expenses nor committed dividends for 2015, forcing it to draw on reserves and accelerate cost savings, said Reuters.