Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 5/ Trend M. Moezzi
Iran has given India one month to make a final decision about developing the Farzad B gas field in the Persian Gulf, Fars News Agency reported.
Negotiations with the India Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have been ongoing for three years and are said to be in their final stage.
If agreed to by the two parties, the ONGC consortium will convert the field's gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG) and sell it.
The Farzad B's first phase of development projects 1.1 billion cubic feet of gas extracted, 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas in the second phase and 2.2 billion cubic feet in the third phase.
The latest figure for developing the field is $5 billion. Development costs were estimated at $3 billion when negotiations started.
Farzad B's reserves are calculated at 12.5 trillion cubic feet of gas.
This is not the first time Iran has issued a deadline to a company negotiating a gas or oil project. Its oil minister, Rostam Ghasemi, took the Russian company Gazprom out of the running to develop the Azar field, which Iran shares with Iraq, and awarded the contract to a domestic consortium.