Private Law Research

Production Sharing Agreements in Joint Fields: A Legal Analysis of Clause (a) of Article 44 of Iran’s Seventh Development Plan

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Iman Jahandari 1
Abbas Kazemi Najafabadi 2

1 PhD Candidate in International Oil and Gas Contracts Management at Allameh Tabataba’i University

2 Associate Prof. Department of Private Law, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22054/jplr.2026.90446.2984
Abstract
The Seventh Development Plan Act of the Islamic Republic of Iran, for the first time, explicitly authorized the conclusion of production sharing agreements in joint oil and gas fields. Despite the significance of this development, ambiguities remain regarding the legal nature of these agreements, the legislator’s objective, their relation to Articles 77 and 139 of the Constitution, the concept of “without transfer of ownership,” and their limitation to joint fields. This study provides a legal analysis of Clause (a) of Article 44 and identifies its requirements and implementation challenges. The research uses a mixed-methods approach: first, the law and higher-level documents were examined through legal content analysis; then, using the Delphi method and semi-structured interviews with 12 experts, legal challenges were identified. Findings indicate that production sharing agreements are contractual obligations based on commitment to results, do not entail transfer of reservoir ownership, and Articles 77 and 139 do not require parliamentary approval. Legal authorization allows implementation of these agreements, provided limitations are properly interpreted and complementary regulations enacted. Moreover, field study results show that although legal challenges are significant, institutional and structural challenges have the greatest impact on implementation, and reforming the legal framework alone is insufficient.

Keywords

Upstream contracts
Production Sharing
Joint Field
Article 77 of the Constitution
Article 139 of the Constitution
Subjects
Private Law Research

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 15 June 2026

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