“Based on the serious negotiations held with the parties to these contracts, some 10 deals are predicted to be signed,” Namdar Zanganeh said.

Noting that Iran will endorse the oil contracts according to its priorities, he said, “All negotiations are progressing well and none would trouble any another one.”

Zanganeh added that after inking the contract to develop phase 11 of the South Pars oil and gas field, the plans to develop the oil layers of the South Pars, Azar joint field and Sohrab, Aab Teimour, Mansouri and Azadegan fields are of priority.

In relevant remarks earlier this month, a senior Iranian energy official announced that Tehran is considering to attract a considerable amount of foreign investment by putting to tender several oil contracts.

“We expect to attract as much as $15 billion in foreign investments into new oil and gas projects before next April,” National Iranian Oil Company’s official Gholamreza Manouchehri said.

The next Iranian oil and gas awards will be based within the framework of an agreement signed with the French energy giant Total last month over the development of South Pars Phase 11.

The deal for phase 11 of the field marked the first by a major global energy company signed with Iran since the easing of sanctions against Tehran in January 2016.

Under the deal, Total, Iran’s Petropars and France’s CNPC are about to produce 2 billion cubic feet (56 million cubic meters) of natural gas per day for 20 years through an investment of about $5 billion.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Manouchehri added that the NIOC was close to awarding the development of South Azadegan oil field.

Also, last month, Zanganeh underlined that Asian and European companies were in talks about Iran’s oil and gas development projects which would potentially need $200 billion worth of investment.

He reiterated that Iran was already planning to absorb 65 percent to 70 percent of the amount from abroad.