TEHRAN- Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan will travel to Iran early next week where he is scheduled to discuss the development of Iran’s Farzad-B gas field and his country’s plans to import oil from Iran, said Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for Commerce and International Affairs Amir Hossein Zamaninia.

During his visit, Pradhan would meet his Iranian counterpart, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iranian Minister of Mine, Industry and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh and Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor Valiollah Seif, the Shana news agency reported. 

The Indian minister would leave the country on April 10.

Apart from the mentioned subjects, Zamaninia said, India’s investment in Iran’s petrochemical sector is also among the topics of discussion.

Pars Oil and Gas Company, Zamaninia noted, would hold the negotiations on the Farzd-B gas field while the discussions may become lengthy.

According to Zamaninia, an Indian company is currently studying the ways of importing gas from Iran through sub-sea pipelines.

Iran had asked Indian firms to submit a new development plan for the field which they discovered in 2008, winning the right to develop it. 

In 2014, Iran had to put Farzad-B in the list of projects for tender after the Indians dragged their feet on its development under the U.S. pressure. 

In 2012, United States and European Union imposed sanctions on Iran which prevented other countries from cooperating with Iranian banks and energy sector. 

India, however, began pushing rigorously for their development rights to be reinstated after a July 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran created concerns in New Delhi that European firms could clinch the contract.   

Farzad-B gas field is estimated to hold 21.68 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas in place, of which 12.8 tcf is recoverable. 

According to the Iran-India Contract, India was supposed to increase the production of Farzad-B gas field to 2.2 billion cubic feet, a target which it failed to meet due to sanctions on Iran’s energy sector. 

SJ/MA