Iran's Opec win lacks substance without real deals with oil giants

Dubai

FEW countries have benefited from the oil market's 2016 recovery like Iran. Since sanctions on its economy were eased in January, the Persian Gulf producer has doubled exports as prices rallied and won approval from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) last month to pump even more while other members cut.

The key to continued growth will be attracting foreign investment to the energy industry.

"Iran is definitely better off than they started the year," said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. "Further expansion plans for production have reached a plateau. They need foreign investment."

While most Gulf nations struggled with lower oil revenue after prices plunged to less than half of their 2014 levels, Iran, with a population about three times larger than Saudi Arabia's and…