TEHRAN — The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has finished modifications to buyback contracts, Mostafa Zeinoddin, an NIOC official said here on Wednesday.

Certain parts of the buyback contracts have been amended, and the NIOC managing director Manuchehr Nozari will notify the modified deals in the near future, the head of legal affairs at the NIOC told the Mehr News Agency.

Zeinoddin explained that preparation of the Master Development Plan (MDP) of a field by Iranian contractors prior to awarding the field is one of the most important modifications made to the buyback deals.

According to previous framework, the same contractor chosen to develop a field was tasked to prepare the MDP of the field. This might impose extra costs on the NIOC. However, the MDP preparation by Iranian contractors before awarding it will help the NIOC get adequate information on the field and its reservoirs.

Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh in August said that the amendments to buyback contracts do not mean a revolutionary change in them, and only parts of the contracts that were criticized by experts and Majlis deputies would be modified, he added.