Salman Khosravi, IOOC director for contractual affairs, said the company could conserve the amount in the contracts that concerned renting operation buoys, rigs and drilling services, and purchase of the chemicals required for operations and light and heavy vehicles during the year which began on March 21.

He said IOOC manage to reduce the cost of its contracts by preferring domestic developers over their foreign counterparts, localization of services, creating a wholesome competitive atmosphere in the company's tenders and cutting the red tape in signature of contracts.

In April, Khosravi had said transparency in contracts with domestic companies operating in the oil and gas industry cut the cost of domestic petroleum projects by 20% in fiscal 2017-2018 compared to the previous year.

"Openness and transparency in tenders for domestic projects in the oil sector has boosted competition among Iranian companies and cut costs by 20%," the IOOC had said.

"IOOC saved €120 million ($128 million) in costs of contracts year-on-year while improving the quality of services and products," Khosravi said.