Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA) – India’s Hinduja Group and ONGC Videsh Ltd. hope to ink a pact with Iran to develop oil and gas fields by the end of the month.
OVL, the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp., and the Hinduja Group are looking at joining the development of the South Pars phase 12 gas fields and the Azadegan oil field in Iran. In return, Tehran has been offered a stake in a liquefied natural gas terminal and refinery project in India, local media reports said Monday.
“The draft of the agreement has already been exchanged and we are hopeful of reaching a formal pact and initiate a due diligence of the fields during the next round of talks, which are expected to begin by the end of this month,” said Subir Raha, executive vice chairman, Hinduja Group, India.
He said the tripartite talks might be held in Iran. The total project cost involving upstream and downstream segment is roughly $20 billion, he said, adding during the recent talks held in New Delhi between senior executives from OVL and Hinduja’s Ashok Leyland Project Services, and representatives of Iran’s state-run Petropars and Naft Iran IntertradeCo Ltd., a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Co., the vital issue of cost has been resolved.
“Sharing of development cost is a critical component of such deals, and since the methodology for this has been agreed upon, the other issues will follow,” he told Business Line newspaper.
