Iran to ink $7 billion deals to develop oil and gas fields

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sep.23/ Trend F.Milad/

Iran will sign deals, worth $7 billion, to develop three oil and gas fields in the Persian Gulf, the deputy oil minister said.

Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr told the Shana news agency that the deals will be signed in the near future, but he did not reveal the names of the fields.

Last year, some nine billion barrels of in-situ oil and gas reserves were discovered, he said, adding that outputs at joint oil and gas fields increased by 20 percent and 22 percent, respectively.

On August 24, Khojasteh-Mehr told the Fars news agency that some $30 billion was invested last year in Iranian oil industry despite global sanctions.

The oil industry faced sanctions last year, which led to a reduction in foreign investments. But, we managed to absorb some $30 billion to oil projects, he noted.

Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said in April that at least $30 billion will be invested in the domestic oil industry this year.

He added that a major portion of the sum will be allocated to the South Pars gas field projects.

The South Pars gas field is shared by Iran and Qatar. The Iranian share, which is divided into 29 phases, has about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of the total world reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.