In its biggest ever investment abroad, the state-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) clinched a $3 billion deal to develop a gas block in the gigantic South Pars gas field of Iran and sell LNG exported to it.
According to local press reports on Tuesday, the IOC will be a partner to Iran's Petropars in implementing one of the 30 phases planned to develop the 500-sq.-mile South Pars field that is estimated to include 436 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, officials said.
According to IRNA, the two sides will also put up a liquefaction plant in southern Iran which is designed to make available 9 million tons per annum of LNG to be exported to India and other countries. "The deal will be formally signed after it is approved by the Iranian authorities," they said.
The Indian company will have a 40 percent stake in the upstream development with the remainder going to Petropars. In the liquefaction plant, IOC would have a 60 percent stake and the marketing rights to sell the entire 9 million tons of LNG.
Petropars is a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Co. The NIOC has a 60 percent stake in Petropars while Iran's IDRO (Industrial Development and Renovation Organization) Pension Fund has the remainder. (menareport.com)
