Turkish energy company Unit International, Russia's Zarubezhneft, and Iran's non-governmental firm Ghadir Investment Company have pledged to invest a combined US$7 billion to drill at three oil fields and one natural gas field in Iran, the Turkish company said on Tuesday.
The investment commitment comes just a week after Ghadir Investment signed a deal with Zarubezhneft and Unit International to finance and develop oil and gas projects in and outside Iran.
The three companies agreed to set up joint ventures to fund oil and gas development projects, with Ghadir Exploration and Production Company leading the consortium in which each company would have equal share of the financing.
According to Unit International, as cited by Reuters, the total reserves at the three oil fields are estimated at 10 billion barrels, and the fields would be able to pump 100,000 bpd.
The natural gas field would have an annual production capacity of around 75 billion cubic meters. The gas reserves at the field would help meet the gas demand in Turkey for the next 150 years, Reuters quoted the Turkish company as saying.
The consortium could also drill at other fields in Iran, according to Unit International.
Both Zarubezhneft and Unit International are not new to signing deals with Iran. Last month, Zarubezhneft signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) to study the possible development of Iran's Shadegan and Rag Sefid oil fields.
Unit International, for its part, signed in June last year a US$4.2-billion deal with the Iranian energy ministry to build seven natural gas combined-cycle power plants in different regions in Iran with a combined installed capacity of 6,020 megawatts.
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In early July, France's energy major Total SA signed a contract to develop phase 11 of the South Pars gas field in Iran-the world's biggest gas field-marking the first Iranian Petroleum Contract (IPC) with a Western major since most sanctions on Iran were lifted.
"Total will develop the project in strict compliance with applicable national and international laws", CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in the company statement.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More