MOSCOW, January 4. /TASS/. Iran has admitted over 20 international energy firms, including Gazprom, to tenders for the country’s new oil and gas projects, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) reported on its website on Wednesday.

The list includes France’s Total, Anglo-Dutch Shell, Italy’s Eni, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Malaysian Petronas and others.

"Iran plans to award new projects to the companies it has qualified through a new format of oil sector contracts," the NIOC said.

The new format is replacing buyback deals. Under a buyback deal, the host government agreed to pay the contractor an agreed price for all the volumes of hydrocarbons the contractor produces, the NIOC said in a statement.

"But from now on, the NIOC will set up joint ventures for crude oil and gas production with international companies which will be paid with a share of the output," the statement said.