Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 31 / Trend F.Milad/
The talks are underway for signing $15 billion oil and gas deals to develop joint fields in the Persian Gulf, the Iranian Offshore Oilfields Company (IOOC) managing director Mahmoud Zirakchainzadeh said.
The fifth five-year development plan (2010-2015) envisaged investing up to $36 billion in the Persian Gulf oil and gas fields, the IOOC head Mahmoud Zirakchainzadeh told Mehr news agency.
Iran attached the priority on boosting gas production capacity from its joint oilfields with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Oil Minster Rostam Qasemi said.
Qasemi said in August 2011 that the oil industry's infrastructure needs more than 500 trillion rials (about $50 billion) of investment to achieve objectives of Iran's 20-year economic outlook plan (ending 2025).
Iran ranks second on the world's largest natural gas reserves after Russia. It tries to increase its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in its South Pars gas field.
The 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 8 percent of the total world reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.