Addressing a ceremony to signing the contracts on Monday, August 17, the Deputy of Development and Engineering Affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said the main goal of the projects was direct and indirect employment for Iranian manufacturers and contractors, and said: “With implementation of the 13 contracts signed today, 185,000 barrels of oil would be added to the country's oil production capacity.”

Reza Dehghan said the initial idea of ​​the plan to maintain and increase oil production was proposed back in 2016 and finally approved in 2018 by the Economic Council.

He went on to say that the 10 contracts of the first phase of these projects were signed in 2017, which have so far gained an average of 25% physical progress.

The official said each of the contracts were worth between €135 to €189 million which amount to €1.5 billion and would be implemented by the Iranian Offshore Oil Company and the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) as employers of the projects in a matter of 2 to 2.5 years.