Iran plans to tender contracts to develop its oil and gas fields in mid-February, according to the head of state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

The invitation to bid on oil and gas field developments will be the first aimed at international oil companies (IOCs) since international nuclear-related sanctions against Iran in January 2016.

“The plan was to hold the first tender at the end of January, but it will be held with 15 days of delay on 15 February,” said NIOC Managing Director Ali Kardor told Iranian news agency ISNA.

“Twenty-nine companies have been qualified, but we would like to add more companies to the list,” he added.

Last year Iran announced details of its new Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC), designed to improve the terms for IOCs entering the Iranian oil sector from the previous buy-back contracts.

Plans to tender field developments under the IPC model have been delayed several times.

In November 2016, France’s Total and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) have signed a heads of agreement (HoA) with National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to develop phase 11 of the South Pars offshore gas field. This is thought to be independent of the new IPC tenders.