The New Oil Order of Iran and Its Impact on Designing Upstream Contracts in Oil Industry

Even though the Buy-back contracts is introduced as sole method for performing upstream Oil projects, by virtue of laws such as budget and development program laws, after Islamic revolution of Iran, new regulations were passed in recent decades that indicated on formation of new legal order in petroleum industry. The Sprout of Iran's new oil and gas order, initially formed by a change in attitudes towards foreign investment, grew up by changing the scope of private sector intervention in the economy and developed by introducing and prescribing various oil contracts. On the other hand in the event of this developments, petroleum ministry unveiled a new model of contract named Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC). Although IPC is based on the principles of Iran's new oil order, it seems that it has not used all the capacities articulated in this order. Explaining the fundamentals and content of this order, the ratio of the new contract to these developments and eventually the ability to apply other contractual patterns will be discussed in this article.