The Development of the Oil and Gas Laws of Iran

Kashani, Javad; Zekavatmand, Alireza

doi:10.22050/pbr.2024.431242.1322

The Development of the Oil and Gas Laws of Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Javad Kashani ¹

Alireza Zekavatmand ²

¹ Associate Professor, Department of Private and Economic Law, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Allameh Tabatabaii University, Tehran, Iran

² Ph.D. Candidate , Department of Private and Economic Law, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Allameh Tabatabaii University, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22050/pbr.2024.431242.1322

Abstract

The legal regime of oil and gas in Iran, started with concession contracts, has evolved from partnership contracts to service agreements during its transformation. In all types of these contracts, there has been efforts to preserve national interests, through the insertion of various contractual provisions and elements. Approving the first oil law in Iran (oil Act 1957), some of these elements entered into the law and became binding. Gradually, with reforming of oil laws in different periods, these elements, have also been changed in the law. This paper is discussing how to apply and evolve these elements in Iran's oil contracts and laws, as well as determining the role of these elements in the development of Iran's oil and gas legal system. The results show two different periods. Adopting of oil Acts of 1957 and 1974 in the first period, legislative developments moved towards the completion and creation of a coherent and targeted legal regime. In the second period, after the Islamic Revolution of Iran, there was no unified approach to formulating a comprehensive oil law in the oil Acts of 1987 and 2011, and the oil Acts in this period are very brief and concise, so that most of the issues related to the oil in the oil industry, remained silent in these Acts and dealt with in other Acts other than the oil Acts. In this period, oil contracts played a more prominent role in the development of oil rights than the law, and the issues that remain silent in the oil Act, are mentioned in oil contracts of this period. Therefore, the role of law in the first period and the role of contract in the second period have been more prominent in the development of Iran oil and gas law.

Highlights

• The main purpose of creating a legal framework is to provide the background, explain the rules governing
oil operations, and define the administrative, economic, and financial guiding principles for investment
activities in the oil sector.
• The study of Iran’s oil and gas legal regime shows two different periods in the development of this legal
regime.
• The role of the law in the first period and the role of the contract in the second period in the development of
Iran’s oil and gas rights are prominent and privileged.
• The optimal point of the role of law and contract in the legal management of oil and gas is to formulate a
brief but comprehensive oil law that specifies the basic conditions and minimum standards.

Keywords

Oil Contracts

Contract-Law

Oil Law

Efficiency

Oil Rights

Subjects

Law Studies

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