Russians will soon start “executive operations” on developing two oilfields in Iran, Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr said.
Since the January visit to Moscow by President Ebrahim Raeisi who was accompanied by a number of oil executives, there has been speculation about the participation of Russian companies in Iran’s oil projects, he noted.
Khojasteh-Mehr visited Moscow for “final talks” on contracts discussed by Minister of Petroleum Javad Owji. Media reports at the time said Russian firms had agreed to offer investment or technology to Iranian oil and gas projects or participate as contractors.
Last November, Russia's second-largest crude oil producer Lukoil said it would be happy to return to talks on its Iranian oil projects, but was waiting for the outcome of the Vienna talks on removing US sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
"We are interested in coming back to these fields. A lot of work has been done some time ago, we know these fields and their geology," Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov said.
Lukoil was in talks with Iran to develop the Ab Teymour and Mansouri oilfields, but put those plans on hold in late 2018 after the US pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions on the country's oil industry.
At the time, Russian companies had signed a record number of oil and gas contracts with Iran since the lifting of sanctions on the Islamic Republic in early 2016.