The state-run company, a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), has asked for companies to evaluate 28 oil and gas, carbonate and sandstone reservoirs over a two-year period.

IOOC says the purpose of the study is to evaluate the “maximum potential” of oil and gas which could be produced from the field along with the prospect of using enhanced oil recovery techniques in retrieving the oil.

Companies must register their interest in the tender with IOOC by 20 August.

IOOC is hoping to triple production at the Forouzan and Esfandiar fields to 150,000-barrels-a-day (b/d) after development stalled in the last few years.

Last December, Iran issued an international tender for the Esfandiar oil field development, although the contract has yet to be awarded after prequalification delays earlier this year.