Russia says its energy giant Gazprom is negotiating with the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) over an agreement to develop a gas field in Iran.
Russia’s Ambassador to Tehran Levan Dzhagaryan was quoted by the media as saying that talks are currently focused on the text of the agreement. However, he did not specify over which project the two are negotiating.
Dzhagaryan added that Russia is looking into the possibility of forming a consortium to take up development projects in Iran’s oil and gas sectors.
Gazprom had been previously involved in the development of Phase 2&3 of Iran’s South Pars energy zone.
The company was also considering the development of Azar oil field which Iran jointly shares with Iraq but later abandoned the scheme.
Dzhagaryan had recently said that Gazprom and its oil industry offshoot - Gazprom Neft – are working on several basic agreements on the development of Iran’s oil and gas projects.
"Memorandums between Gazprom and the National Iranian Oil Company, as well as between Gazprom Neft and the National Iranian Oil Company on the development of oil and gas fields are at the stage of being agreed," he emphasized.
The envoy had further said that Lukoil, Russia’s biggest private oil firm, was considering participating in the development of two oil fields in Iran.
He had added that the two fields that Lukoil plans to invest are located in Ahvaz in Iran’s southwestern province of Khouzestan.
Dzhagaryan did not specific which projects the Russian company – which is the country’s second largest energy giant – had targeted exactly.
Nevertheless, it is generally believed that they could be among the projects with promising prospects of development given that Khouzestan – the heartland of Iran’s oil industry – has rich underground resources of crude oil and natural gas.