Although the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the 5+1 is still ongoing and the international oil sanctions against the country has yet be lifted, the world’s oil giants are taking advantage of the positive prospect for a nuclear deal by the end of June to participate in projects in Iran’s oil industry once the sanctions are fully removed.
To this end, the company’s first vice president Ravil Maganov told reporters on Wednesday that Russia’s oil company Lukoil has reopened its office in Iran.
"We look forward to participating in projects in Iran after the sanctions are fully removed", he said. "We are studying geological data on other projects as well."
The Anaran oilfield is located on the Iranian-Iraqi border. Lukoil started working on the Anaran block in 2003 but was forced to pull out after economic sanctions had been imposed on Iran.
Foreign oil giants like Shell (headquartered in the Netherlands and incorporated in the UK) and the French Total have already expressed enthusiasm in returning to Iran.
Last month, the country’s petroleum minister said Tehran was ready to increase its oil exports by one million barrels per day a few months after the sanctions against the country are lifted.
Iran holds the world's fourth-largest proven crude oil reserves and the second-largest natural gas reserves.
The announcements of world’s biggest oil companies to participate in Iran’s oil projects come just a few days after Iran and the 5+1 reached a preliminary understanding on Tehran's nuclear policy drafted as a statement that was jointly released by Zarif and EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini on April 2 in the Swiss city of Lausanne.
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