India eyes Iran energy sector investment

A unit of the National Iranian Oil Company says it expects Indian firms to sign a deal for the development of the 12th phase of Iran’s South Pars field.

The managing director of Petropars Company, Gholam-Reza Manouchehri, said he hoped the Indian side would make a final decision on the matter soon.

“We have given the proposal to the Indian side. We hope they will finalize the deal in two months,” said Manouchehri on the sidelines of the Petrotech energy conference.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday urged Indian oil companies to secure supplies overseas in the face of a dramatic spike in demand.

“In India the demand over the next 10 years will increase by about 40 per cent, whereas the increase in supply from the maturing oil fields is expected to be about 12 percent,” said Singh.

“The Indian government is encouraging national oil companies to pursue equity oil and gas opportunities overseas… for these reasons, we seek to build strong economic partnerships with other countries and their oil and gas industries to the mutual benefit of each other,” Singh added.

In September, India expressed willingness to restart negotiations to independently import natural gas from Iran via a sea pipeline.