oil law

Understanding of the interplay between IP rights and competition law in the context of technology transfer in the Iranian oil industry is a point that is discussed in this article. While intellectual property rights enjoy a historic record and appropriate rules in this regard, the competition rights in Iran are taking their initial steps. This imbalance stems from the root of the formation of the legal system of oil in Iran based on contractual frameworks over time. The point to be made in this article is that technology transfer can be expected to take place when the type and purpose of technology transfer have already been defined by legal organizations in relation to the relevant industries. Also, the general targeting in the upstream laws alone cannot meet the legal requirements for the transfer of appropriate technology. Therefore, when even one of the mentioned factors does not exist, one cannot expect constructive interaction in the above-mentioned legal systems.

the formation of the current legal system is a function and is influenced by a basic element called time. An element that influences not only the formation of the legal system, but also its evolution.so, the legal system in the Iranian oil industry began with a contract and not with the legislation of a law. In relation to the term "contractual framework", it seems necessary to explain that the contractual framework refers to the criteria which give the contracts such a feature that it distinguishes that contract and similar contracts from other contracts concluded in that field. What were these contracts? How did they form the legal system of the Iranian oil industry? What has been their impact on technology transfer in the oil industry? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this work. Disappointment with the framework of previous agreements (concession agreements), along with socio-political contexts such as the nationalization of the oil industry, led to a re-examination of this industry's contract frameworks in the light of past experiences, better future benefits and national independence and sovereignty. But how successful it was, that is another matter. Because the oil companies did not simply want to transfer the maximum benefits to the countries with oil resources, and used the dependence of those countries to their industry as a tactic against this trend as much as possible. Therefore, the structure of contracts governing the oil industry should be considered as a result of this conflict of interests.

The legal regime of oil and gas in Iran, started with concession contracts, has evolved from partnership contracts to service agreements during its transformation. In all types of these contracts, there has been efforts to preserve national interests, through the insertion of various contractual provisions and elements. Approving the first oil law in Iran (oil Act 1957), some of these elements entered into the law and became binding. Gradually, with reforming of oil laws in different periods, these elements, have also been changed in the law. This paper is discussing how to apply and evolve these elements in Iran's oil contracts and laws, as well as determining the role of these elements in the development of Iran's oil and gas legal system. The results show two different periods. Adopting of oil Acts of 1957 and 1974 in the first period, legislative developments moved towards the completion and creation of a coherent and targeted legal regime. In the second period, after the Islamic Revolution of Iran, there was no unified approach to formulating a comprehensive oil law in the oil Acts of 1987 and 2011, and the oil Acts in this period are very brief and concise, so that most of the issues related to the oil in the oil industry, remained silent in these Acts and dealt with in other Acts other than the oil Acts. In this period, oil contracts played a more prominent role in the development of oil rights than the law, and the issues that remain silent in the oil Act, are mentioned in oil contracts of this period. Therefore, the role of law in the first period and the role of contract in the second period have been more prominent in the development of Iran oil and gas law.