Gazprom and Iran near reaching accord

TEHRAN, April 22 (UPI) -- Iran's oil minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari Tuesday said negotiations are nearly complete for a cooperative agreement with Russia's energy giant Gazprom.

"We hope these negotiations will be successfully concluded in the near future," Nozari said.

Gazprom has been helping develop production at two Iranian sites, the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf and the North Azadegan oil deposits in southern Iran, RIA Novosti, a Russian information service, reported.

Estimated gas reserves in Iran are estimated at 28 trillion cubic meters. Production in 2006 was 105 billion cubic meters in 2006, the report said.

South Pars holds the largest gas reserves in the country with 60 percent of the country's estimated reserves, which accounts for 10 percent of known global reserves, the report said.