Parliament planning review of all foreign oil contracts:
paper
TEHRAN, Nov 19 (AFP) - The parliament is planning a review of all oil
contracts signed with foreign firms since the 1979 Islamic revolution,
a conservative newspaper said Sunday.
The Qods daily, citing an informed source on parliament's oil committee,
said the inquiry would look at the so-called "buy-back" deals,
under which foreign firms are reimbursed with a part of production.
"After the great number of criticisms of the buy-back deals, and
the very large profits made by foreign firms, the parliamentary committee
decided to order the investigation," the source told the paper.
Iran has been pushing for greater foreign investment in its lucrative
energy sector and has inked a number of development deals with mostly European
firms in recent months.
Foreign firms have scoffed at Washington's D'Amato law, which theoretically
punishes companies that invest more than 20 million dollars in Iran's energy
sector but has been only half-heartedly enforced.
Iran has the second-largest natural gas and third-largest oil reserves
in the world.
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