Tehran will develop Turkmenistan's Yolotan gas field, a senior Iranian oil official announced on Saturday, adding that Iran will soon propose a draft contract to Ashkhabad, Farsnews reported.
"The draft contract will be finalized within the next two weeks and sent to the Turkmen side," Managing Director of the Petropars Oil and Gas Company Gholam Reza Manouchehri told FNA.
Noting the latest developments in the two sides' negotiations over the project, Manouchehri said that Iran has requested a series of technical data and information to estimate the costs.
"The preliminary draft of the contract is ready and we are waiting for complementary information so that we could send the draft to the Turkmen side within the next two weeks," he reiterated.
Manouchehri further stated that Turkmenistan wants to develop the field via EPC system which requires Ashkhabad to supply the costs of the project.
"Their other proposal is that we receive the produced gas in return for the project costs and we are studying it," he added.
Iran also sealed a deal to increase its annual purchases of Turkmen gas to 10 billion cubic meters (bcm), which amounts to one-fifth of what Russia buys from Turkmenistan.