Two years after Iran pledged to open up its oil industry in anticipation of the lifting of sanctions, foreign companies say they still have little information about Iranian oil fields and contract terms, hindering investment decisions.
Bosses from oil majors including BP, Total, Eni, Royal Dutch Shell and LUKOIL have all travelled to Tehran this year, since the EU sanctions ended in January. Their teams spent weeks meeting local officials ahead of investment tenders due to start next month.
But several senior executives and members of their negotiating teams told Reuters they still had not been given sufficient information about the geology of Iranian fields or contract terms. The people, who were not speaking from Iran, said they were also unclear about how quickly they would be able to recoup their investment and who they could partner with locally.
While foreign companies are eager to enter Iran, which sits on a tenth of the world's oil reserves, they are also wary of any contract terms that may lead to them falling foul of remaining U.S. sanctions.
BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley, whose company is seeking deals to develop several fields, said he did not know the details of any potential contracts yet.
"Iran is a large oil and gas province ... but we don't have any specific contracts right now," Dudley said last week. "We're going to have to be very careful. We don't want to violate any sanction," he added.
Some oil executives looking to invest in Iran said they were also unclear about whether deals would require parliamentary approval.
"I don't think anybody will go and sign a contract without parliament's approval. How do you guarantee that the contract is real if there is no parliamentary approval in a country that works on the basis of a parliament," said an executive from an oil major that is negotiating a deal with Iran.
An executive from an oil major said: "What we have seen so far is only a framework of the IPC. Fees, terms are not clear. Iranian officials say that these issues will be negotiated between foreign companies and NIOC."
An executive from another major said brief details had emerged in recent weeks, with Iranian officials telling potential investors they would be repaid over the course of many years - an unwelcome contrast with Iraq where repayments are being made almost as soon as investments are done.
The requirements to team up with local partners are also still to be clarified.