Iran wants to involve India at later stage in its Farzad-B gas field: Foreign Ministry
Bagchi also said that the involvement of the Indian consortium was ongoing and that the authorities are in touch with their Iranian counterparts
NEW DELHI: Iran wants to involve India at a later stage in its Farzad-B gas field, a spokesman of the Indian foreign ministry said on Thursday, days after India lost the field discovered by its ONGC Videsh Limited in Iran.
"Iran had decided to develop the Farzad B gas field on its own and wanted to involve India at a later stage," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi told reporters at a regular foreign ministry briefing.
Bagchi also said that the involvement of the Indian consortium was ongoing and that the authorities are in touch with their Iranian counterparts. The development of the field was seen as a key element of cooperation and ties between India and Iran.
Earlier this week, a PTI report had said that Iran had awarded a contract for developing the significant reserve to a local company.
"The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has signed a contract worth $1.78 billion with Petropars Group for the development of Farzad B Gas Field in the Persian Gulf," PTI quoted the Iranian oil ministry's official news service Shana as saying.
"The deal was signed on Monday, May 17, in a ceremony held in the presence of Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh in Tehran," the PTI report said.
The Farzad B gas field reportedly holds 23 trillion cubic feet of in-place reserves, of which about 60% is recoverable. It also holds gas condensates of about 5,000 barrels per billion cubic feet of gas.The buyback contract signed envisages daily production of 28 million cubic meters of gas over five years, the PTI report quoted Shana as saying.
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