Petroleum Business Review

Abstract The need to speed up the creation of innovation in the oil industry and support it properly in order to respond to the increasing needs of the world today has caused activists in this field to use various forms of protection. Patent systems and trade secrets are the main ways of protecting intellectual achievements in the oil industry. In recession conditions such as the Corona epidemic, which had a negative impact on the production and income generation of oil companies, intangible assets such as trade secrets or registered inventions could be a very good source of income for these companies. The complexity and longevity of technology in the upstream field of the oil industry has caused the reluctance of companies active in this field to register patents, which will slow down the dissemination of knowledge, creation and development of innovation. Therefore, due to the necessity of energy production, lack of resources and the need for complex and combined technologies in this field, patenting becomes inevitable.

Abstract Iran's Ministry of Petroleum due to empowerment of Iranian companies for executing local mega projects, regional and international markets penetration and upgrading national technology in petroleum upstream industry, predicted a competent Iranian partner called Exploration and Production (E&P) companies, for cooperating with the International Oil Company (IOC) in Article Four of the Cabinet Approval. Now considering the absence of IOCs, it seems that the capacity of other oil contract models to be used by Iranian oil companies should be examined. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of Concession agreements’ execution, by an E&P company in Iran’s upstream industry. The research method is descriptive and analytical and governing laws of Iran are reviewed in this study. Since the host government makes the final decision on the conduct of oil operations, it cannot be described as domination of oil resources, and therefore does not seriously contradict the Iran’s Constitution. Furthermore, E&P companies will not be subject to Article 81 of the Constitution. In the Oil Laws, the only restriction on the inflow of foreign capital in the upstream industry of Iran has been observed, which again does not apply to E&P companies. In the Laws of the Five-Year Plans, this restriction of oil laws has been adjusted too much in which it seems that the restriction has also been removed for IOCs. Finally, the investigation shows that there are no major legal barriers in applying Concession agreement in case that the operator is an Iranian E&P company.