The CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company said: Another manifestation of the nationalization of the oil industry was the signing of a contract for the development, production and increase of oil production from the South Pars oil layer.

According to IRIB, Mohsen KhojastehMehr said a $500-million contract for the production development and enhanced oil recovery from the oil layer of South Pars gas field had been signed on Tuesday between NIOC and a reputable foreign company as well as the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company.

He added: "In this contract, for the first time, horizontal drilling with new foreign technologies and water injection will be used as one of the methods of production enhancement."

The NIOC CEO stated: “The situation of the South Pars oil layers is such that we cannot exploit them by conventional drilling that we have in the country, therefore, this is one of the special advantages of this contract that in addition to foreign investment, technology transfer will also be made possible.”

The contract for the development of the second phase of the South Pars oil layer has been negotiated and finalized for 20 years within the framework of the new upstream contract model. Accordingly, the developer is committed to supply the financial means for development of the project.