Though India is willing to invest $11 billion in developing Iran’s Farzad B gas field, still Iran says that it is not obliged to give oil deal to India.
Iran signed a basic agreement with Russia’s Gazprom for the development of the gas field which was discovered by a consortium of Indian state-run companies. This was seen as a retaliation against what Iran saw as a threat from India to cut purchase of Iranian oil if the commercial contract for Farzad B didn’t happen.
Iranian lawmaker and spokesperson of Iran’s Majlis Energy Commission, Asadollah Gharekhani said that while India had been allowed to conduct technical surveys on Farzad B, giving India development rights was never a part of any agreement. It was decided that Iran and India jointly carry out realizable studies on the Farzad B oil field. The studies have been conducted and have finished. However, no decision was made that would suggest the project to develop the field should necessarily be contracted out to India. Under equal circumstances, Indian consortium could take priority. Based on the independence and freedom that it has, Iran will choose the company which would best serve the country’s nations interest.
India and Iran have failed to finalise a commercial contract for Farzad despite the optimism expressed by PM Narendra Modi and President Hassan Rouhani for the same when they met in Tehran