On latest status of negotiations between Iran and India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) over expansion of Farzad-B joint gas field, Managing Director of the Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) Mohammad Meshkinfam said the final round of talks has been continuously underway for a week.
He deemed ‘economic development model’ as the main source of disagreement between Iran and the Indian firm asserting “operational and technical controversies can be settled down if an agreement is reached on the economic model of the project.”
“Talks need to yield results within a maximum of two months,” highlighted Meshkinfam adding “in case no agreement is reached in the envisaged time, the development of Farzad-B will be put out to an international tender.”
The first developmental phase of the joint gas field aims to reach a production of two billion cubic feet though a great portion of the output will be turned to LNG, he commented.
POGC managing director said “reaching an agreement with ONGC over Fsrzad-B development is not far-fetched since both sides are seeking to finalize talks.”
Two weeks ago, Iran Oil Minister announced that the Indian economic model for development of the field is not acceptable.
“Iran will wait no longer for ONGC and if the Indian delegation fails to offer an appropriate economic model, a different strategy will be adopted for Farzad-B development,” he had noted.
A consortium headed by India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) Videsh, the overseas exploration unit of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, discovered the Farzad-B gas field in the Farsi offshore block in 2008, but was unable to get permission to develop it due to Western sanctions against Iran.
India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOP&NG) is hoping to convince Iran into assigning Farzad-B project to ONGC Videsh.
Farzad-B gas field has in-place reserves of up to 21.68 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), 12.8 Tcf of which may be recoverable.
HA/3815260