The British media say the country�s biggest oil and gas engineering company, Amec Foster Wheeler, is gearing up for a return to Iran as the race to win contracts in the Islamic republic heats up ahead of the possible lifting of sanctions.

The Telegraph has quoted Amec Foster Wheeler CEO Samir Brikho as saying that e has already discussed the company�s involvement in the Iranian market with the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, who reopened the British Embassy in Tehran last week.

�Iran is certainly one of the country�s we�re looking at but we can�t do anything while sanctions are still in place,� Brikho said.

Brikho said that Amec Foster Wheeler�s top management executive for the Middle East region had participated in the delegation led by Hammond which met Iran�s President Hassan Rouhani.

Amec Foster Wheeler was a subcontractor for engineering services in a major project to develop Iran�s South Pars Phases 6, 7 and 8.

The company has been involved in a series of recent forums over Iran investment potentials including one held in Vienna in April in which it attended alongside other major energy corporations such as Chevron.

The prospects for the removal of sanctions against investments in Iran�s energy industry have already provoked companies to look into the potentials to return to the country�s lucrative oil and gas projects.

Nevertheless, many believe that no significant step to that effect is expected to happen until at least the second half of 2016 when the sanctions removal could start to take place.

By Press TV