A comparative study of the fiscal arrangements of petroleum contracts and benefits of oil producing countries

Fiscal system of upstream petroleum contracts is a set of tools and elements such as royalties, bonuses, taxes, production sharing and fees that determine how the revenues from petroleum resources are divided between the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and the government. Which fiscal tools and elements to be employed in a petroleum contract depend on numerous considerations. By implementing a descriptive-analytical method of research, this study aims to review the main characteristics of fiscal arrangements in some of the major oil-producing countries and represent the effective factors on host governments' tendency in applying different types of fiscal features in their petroleum contracts. Subsequently, the status of the new Iranian Petroleum Contract (IPC) to be analyzed in this respect. So from this point of view and regardless of the type of applied petroleum contracts (i.e. concessions, production sharing contracts and risk service contracts), there are many considerable differences in the nature of fiscal tools and elements applying in petroleum contracts of different countries (including the developed and industrial countries compared with the developing countries) which reflect a country's economic conditions and degree of its dependence on oil revenues and also supervisory power of government.