Indian firms eyeing Iran's natural gas?

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TEHRAN, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- A consortium of three Indian energy companies is in talks with Iran to develop a gas field in the Persian Gulf, a managing director said in Tehran.

Mahmoud Zirakchian Zadeh, a managing director at the National Iranian Offshore Oil Fields Co., was quoted by the semiofficial Mehr News Agency as saying a $5 billion deal is in the works with a consortium "including three Indian companies."

Tehran said the Farzad gas field in the gulf could produce more than 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, though the director offered few specifics on a time line for development.

"Legal and contractual talks for development of oil and gas fields is a time-consuming process and the finalization of the development of the Farzad B field with the Indian side is not an exception," he said.

Western allies have been reluctant to deal with Iran after the European Union and the United States passed unilateral sanctions in July that target Iran's energy sector.

New Delhi, however, has been in various stages of negotiation on a natural gas pipeline that would bring natural gas from the Pars gas complex in the Persian Gulf through Pakistan.