Police Arrest Students Protesting at Iranian Oil Ministry’s Contracts
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A group of Iranian students on Saturday gathered in front of the oil ministry in Tehran to protest at the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) model slated to be followed in foreign oil contracts, but the police dispersed the demonstrators and detained a number of them.
The students, who introduced themselves as “members of the Justice-Seeking Movement”, staged the rally to raise their “merely economic” concern.
They held placards that read “Cancel the IPC”, “Give Back Our Oil”, and “IPC, the English Deceit”.
The Law Enforcement, however, dispersed the students and prevented any gathering around the ministry’s buildings.
The police also confiscated the placards and arrested 15 students, according to one of the protesters. They were later released.
A protester told the Tasnim News Agency that the oil ministry had expressed its preparedness to talk to the demonstrators’ representative.
New oil contracts with foreign companies are going to be signed in the more attractive IPC framework.
Under the new formula, Iran will cede exploration, development and production operations on its oilfields exclusively to foreign contractors.
Attraction of investments, transfer of technology, and optimized use of local contractors are among the responsibilities of foreign companies.
The student gathering in Tehran was held as the deputy head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has said an oil conference scheduled to be held in London next month has been postponed to May over a delay in getting visas.
The conference was planned to be held in the British capital on February 22 to 24 to introduce Iran's attractive oil contract models to European investors.
Such conferences are to provide the perfect platform to discuss Iran’s re-entry to the global energy arena in the wake of the termination of anti-Tehran sanctions.
On January 16, implementation of a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers was officially started.
Based on the agreement, which was finalized back in July 2015, all nuclear-related anti-Iran sanctions were removed.
