Negotiations with Indian companies on commissioning the huge Farzad-B Gas Field in the Persian Gulf are underway, executive director of Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company said on Sunday.
Asked about the possible agreement with Indians for the development of the gas field, Gholamreza Manouchehri also told IRNA, “It is not clear yet. Talks are continuing. No foreign company has so far been assured to undertake the development of Iranian oil/gas fields and the projects are planned to be tendered in future.”
Manouchehri had earlier said the country’s senior officials will decide whether to hand over such projects to foreign companies.
This is while Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh last year described Farzad-B as the only Iranian project "promised" to a foreign contractor.
Iran did not list the gas field among the 52 oil and natural gas projects introduced to international companies at a major conference in Tehran in 2015.
Some of the projects are to be tendered within the next few months, but Yadavaran as well as North and South Azadegan projects are not part of the planned tenders.
In mid-August, top managers from India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Videsh Limited, Oil India and Indian Oil Corporation paid a visit to Tehran to submit their financial proposal for the development of the sought-after Farzad-B Gas Field.
Prior to the visit, Managing Director of Pars Oil and Gas Company Ali Akbar Shabanpour told Mehr News Agency that negotiations were devised to focus on investment plans and the two sides' share from the massive joint natural gas field with Saudi Arabia, hoping that a preliminary agreement would be concluded by September.
Saudi Arabia has reportedly made substantial investment in the field.
Shabanpour stressed that bilateral cooperation in developing the field should be renegotiated, as the previous contract and feasibility studies of the field’s development were based on higher oil prices.
Farzad-B Gas Field holds an estimated 508 billion cubic meters of in-place reserves, of which 370 bcm can be recovered.
Likewise, Hadi Nazarpour, director of Yadavaran Oilfield, told a news conference in July that China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) will retain its position as contractor of the field.
"The master development plan for Yadavaran Oilfield has been drawn up and it was decided that Sinopec will develop the second phase of the field," he added.
