Russian and Western companies are competing to develop Iranian oil and gas fields since the lifting of Western sanctions and the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum announced it plans to sign 10 major oil and gas deals by the end of March 2018. The South Pars, Azar, Sohrab, Ab Teymour and Mansouri oil fields are among the ones whose developments are being discussed in the negotiations.
On 28 August 2017, the Russian oil company Lukoil presented its plans for the development of the Mansouri (also spelled Mansuri) oil field (Khuzestan province, Iran) to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). The company plans to develop the fields in several phases. Lukoil was not the only company ontrack and the Indonesian company Pertamina also submitted its own proposal. The Mansuri field was discovered in 1963 and the production began in 1972. It was suspended and resumed again only in 1991. Lukoil hopes to sign contracts for the Mansuri and Ab Teimur fields in October-November 2017, thus gaining access to 1 Gt of oil. The Iranian Ministry of Petroleum expects to select a foreign company for the field development by 2018.
In the meantime, Gazprom Neft is expected to submit the results of its studies on the CHangouleh and Cheshmeh Khosh fields on 29 August 2017, under the framework of the MoU signed between Gazprom Neft and Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC).