The international oil companies and Iran:A classic love-hate relationship

Since the first concession agreement between William Knox D’Arcy and Iran in 1901, there has been a long history of relations between international oil companies and the government in Tehran. These relations have been cyclical and strongly characterized by what can only be described as a love-hate relationship. They have been subject to changes in the international oil market in the wider context of international politics and global conflicts. More recently, interest in these relations has revived as Iran appears to be entering yet another phase following the agreement between P5+1 and the Iranian government over the Iranian nuclear programme, leading to a possible opening up of Iran’s upstream to the international companies. This chapter will provide a background to this history to try and understand how this new phase may evolve in the current oil market context and what lessons, if any, may be learnt from this stormy history