TEHRAN, Sep. 05 (MNA) � NIOC deputy-head said talks are still underway with India on development of Farzad-B gas field.National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Deputy Head for Development and Engineering Affairs Gholamreza Manouchehri said no agreement has been inked with any foreign firm over development of Iranian fields while relevant tenders will be invited in future.

The official had earlier noted that sealing contracts with foreign parties for oil field development projects will be possible upon approval of high ranking Iranian officials.

Iran�s new model for oil contracts called Iran Petroleum Contracts (IPC), which is being approved by the Iranian government, will provide a general framework for oil agreement.

Recently, NIOC Managing Director had announced that the first tender for development of oil fields is going to held in within ICP format in October; �the development project for South Azadegan will be first oil field to be put out to tender.�

Meanwhile, India is likely to enter upstream sector of Iran�s oil industry in case of reaching an agreement between the two sides over development of Farzad-B gas field.

A consortium headed by India�s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) Videsh, the overseas exploration unit of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, discovered the Farzad-B gas field in the Farsi offshore block in 2008, but was unable to get permission to develop it due to Western sanctions against Iran.

India�s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOP&NG) is hoping to convince Iran into assigning Farzad-B project to ONGC Videsh.

Ali Akbar Shabanpour, Director General of Pars Oil & Gas Company, had said last week that a delegation comprising directors of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) together with a number of officials at Oil India and Indian Oil Corporation are slated to visit Tehran in the current week in order to finalize the financial and investment models of the Iranian joint field with Saudi Arabia.

Shabanpour also estimated that the negotiations with the Indian side will yield results in�September.

The Farzad-B gas field has in-place reserves of up to 21.68 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), 12.8 Tcf of which may be recoverable.

By Mehr News Agency