An Indian Consortium led by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is to finalize a deal to invest in the development of an Iranian gas field, an Iranian official says, Press TV reported.
"The new round of discussions between Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) and the Indian consortium led state-run firm ONGC over the details of a $5bn contract for the development of Farzad B gas field will be conducted in Tehran or New Delhi in the next few months," the head of IOOC Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh said Saturday.
He added that the Indian consortium has already received the initial necessary permits from the Iranian government to start development operations at the gas field in the Persian Gulf.
The Farzad gas field may have reserves of up to 614 billion cubic meters of which recoverable reserves may be about 363 billion cubic meters.
The Indian companies will liquefy the gas from the Iranian field and ship it to India in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG), if a contract is signed and the Indian consortium gets developmental rights.
The gas produced in Farzad gas field, which is part of the Farsi block in the Persian Gulf, will be turned into liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be exported to countries such as India and Kuwait.
Iran says it will be able to produce 77 million tons of LNG a year by 2014.