Oil India Ltd (OIL) has revealed it may invest US $5 billion with its partners to develop a natural gas oilfield in Iran.
The firm, India’s second biggest state-run explorer, is in talks with the National Iranian Oil Co. about a possible contract to develop the field which is located in the Farsi offshore block, according to Oil India’s share sale document.
“We are still thinking whether we should invest and we are talking to Iran,” B.N. Talukdar, director of exploration, told Bloomberg. “It’s a lot of money. We can only get a service contract which offers a fixed rate of return.”
Should the deal go ahead, it will be a three way joint venture between Oil India, Indian Oil Corp and ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL). In April this year OVL submitted a master development plan for the field.