TEHRAN, Oct. 01 (MNA) � Deputy energy minister said a credit line worth five billion dollars has been allocated to Iran by Russians.Iran's Deputy Energy Minister Rahim Meidani touched upon details of cooperation between Iran and Russia over discovery of deep water resources in Iran saying �following the signing of a relevant agreement between the two countries, the Russian credit line has been opened recently.�

�A portion of the credit line, which has also been approved by the Iranian Parliament, will be used to launch discovery activities in deep waters of Iran with the participation of Russian companies.�

The official further noted that the discovery project is expected to be worth 250 million dollars asserting �studies have been launched to spot new resources in deep regions of Iran while geophysical studies will be done after identifying the country�s water potentials through surface geological mapping.�

Meidani underlined that the entire process for characterization studies and deep-water exploration is being carried out by local experts stressing �cooperation between Iran and Russia in the field of water exploration reservoirs returns is limited to geophysical activities.�

Deputy energy minister underscored that geophysical studies and drilling of wells in water exploration blocks will be performed with the 250-million-dollar credit line and participation of Russian companies; �studies need to be done with great caution and care since drilling of exploration wells in deep areas required a great amount of money on a yearly basis.�

�Given the Russian�s have provided the Iranian government with the $5-billion credit line, government will be in charge of repaying the resources,� he continued.

By Mehr News Agency