TEHRAN - Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said on Saturday that the operator for Farzad-B gas field has been determined and the deal for the development of the field is going to be signed in the near future, Mehr News Agency reported.

Masoud Karbasian made the announcement on the sidelines of the signing ceremony of Yaran oil field’s development deal with a domestic company.

Karbasian said despite the numerous problems and the limitations created by the U.S. sanctions, the contractors for the development of almost all of the country’s joint fields have been determined.

Farzad-B, with estimated reserves of 12.8 trillion cubic feet of gas, was opened in 2008 by a consortium of three Indian companies: ONGC, Oil India Limited and Indian Oil Corporation.

The Indians were supposed to develop the field after its exploration, but they stopped their activities after the West intensified sanctions on the Islamic Republic in 2012.

With the lifting of the sanctions, India once again called for the development of Farzad-B by ONGC Videsh which is the overseas investment arm of the country’s biggest energy exploration firm.

In May 2019, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Iranian oil ministry had prepared a plan for financing the project and the framework of the contract was going through final editions.

NIOC asked Indians to submit a technical plan and then a financial proposal for the development of the field, however, after submission Iran did not agree with the other side's financial proposals.

Later in August 2019, Karbasian had announced that Iran was not going to wait for India on developing Farzad-B gas field, and soon the project would know its operator.

EF/MA