Iran’s government approved a new model contract for oil and natural-gas projects as it prepares to increase output with the help of foreign investors once international sanctions are lifted. The country’s council of ministers endorsed the model contract in a meeting chaired by President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, the state-run Mehr news agency reported Wednesday. Iran is preparing to bounce back from sanctions that strangled its economy and choked off investment in its oil and gas industry. Successful implementation of a July deal to curb its nuclear program would allow the country to ramp up oil exports, which fell to an average 1.4 million barrels a day last year from 2.6 million in 2011, U.S. Energy Information Administration data show. The Persian Gulf nation will seek to boost production at oil and gas fields that straddle its borders with neighboring countries, according to the Mehr report. Iran aims to […]