Petroleum Business Review

Abstract According to the form-out agreement the investor of the international petroleum agreement “farmor”, during the implementation of the project and due to various reasons such as lack of finance resources and/or incapability of contract performance, assigns provision of required investments for the purpose of performing an upstream oil project and/or certain operations (well drilling) under the upstream contract to other entities “farmee”, and generally in case of fulfillment of the aforementioned affairs by the farmee, the farmor transfers to the farmee a percentage of its participating interest in the international petroleum agreement upon permission from the host country. In line with this, through evaluating the upstream contracts in Iran, as well as the necessities for attracting investments for the purpose of performing such contracts, it is possible to find out the importance of clause concerning the assignment of contract in order for creating required legal instruments for entering into the farm-out agreement in accordance with the rules and regulations. So that through concluding farm-out agreement between the present and the potential investors, prevent emerging difficulties arising out of mere assignment of the contract to the potential investors during the implementation of upstream contracts.

Abstract Oil and gas industry play a crucial role in the developed and developing countries’ financial and economic development. Resource rich countries are extremely dependent on oil companies for the extraction of petroleum resources. Governments decide which company has the right to extract the petroleum. However,

according to the principle of permanent sovereignty over the natural resources, awarding the right to petroleum resources shall be exercised in the exclusive right of the people. Safeguarding the people’ right, governments are required to design both regulatory institutions and governance for develop, enforce and review of awarding regulations. For this reason, the present article analyzes the regulatory authority of petroleum right awarding in Iran. By reviewing the existing laws and regulations we conclude that the current status is chaotic and intricate due to the multiplicity in awarding regulators and inadequate governance. It is recommended to establish an awarding regulator based on the principles of regulatory excellence.

Abstract In spite of decades from its establishment, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has failed to get the reputation of a prosperous international company. This failure may be due to different reasons but the role of directors in the success of the company is undeniable. How to have efficient directors and therefore a strong board of directors is a challenge that in its response is raised the concept of Good Corporate Governance that by crushing this concept, It will be applied it in the process of appointment directors. The research intends to scrutinize and describe the process of board of directors' appointment from Good Corporate Governance point of view, identifying NIOC advantages and disadvantages thereof. It was found that some indicators of Good Corporate Governance principles such as specialized diversity of board composition are desirable and minimum competencies are less and there is no independent managers criteria. At first hereto, the process is described in three sections: appointment entity, board qualifications and nomination process and following is brought its analysis by using descriptive-analytic method. In conclusion, suggestions are made in regards with enhancing standards of NIOC Good Corporate Governance about board of directors' appointment .

Abstract Energy has been always the focus of attention since the establishment of the WTO.The significance of this issue was doubled when the major energy-producing countries states sought to join the WTO.To join the WTO,many energy-producing and energy-exporting states inevitably needed to modify and change their own laws.The adoption of a dual pricing policy by the applicant countries appears as one of the controversial issues in this regard.By determining lower energy prices for their domestic producers,the energy-rich countries provide them with a superior position relative to their international rivals.From the perspective of some energy-importing countries,such behaviors are seen as subsidizes.Iran as one of the largest energy-rich states,has been seeking about twenty years to join the WTO.Iran subsidizes its domestic producers to support its energy sector and infant industries.This article focused on examining the pricing policies,and in particular,the approach to determine the price of energy in Iran.In addition,we studied of the impact of the pricing method of the energy sector in Iran on the process of its accession to the WTO by a comparative evaluation of the accession process of the energy-producing countries such asRussia andSaudi Arabia to the WTO.Through studying the laws and regulations of the energy sector of Iran, one can realize that Iran has been distancing from DP in recent years and is striving to approach the price of its energy to the global price by benefiting fromthe experiences of the performance of the membercountries of the WTO aimed at accelerating the process of its accession to the WTO