Shana -- National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) says the Rouhani administration has tasked the company to ink 10 major deals for developing oi land gas fields by the end of the current Iranian calendar year to March 20 2018.

Gholamreza Manouchehri, deputy for development and engineering at the NIOC, said on Saturday that the company is preparing for the deals all at the same time and will put the projects to tenders.

He said the newly-devised model of oil contracts is now prepared for signature by energy majors, adding time is needed for concluding the deals, however.

"We are keen to accelerate the development of Iran's petroleum industry and plan to sign 10 more deals by the yearend," the official said.

National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) on July 3 signed a contract with a consortium comprising Total, China's CNPC International and Petropars Company for developing the project in Persian Gulf waters.

"The gas deal [with Total] and similar contracts will increase the country's stability and security," Manouchehri told reporters.

South Pars Phase 11 is being developed for production of 2 million cubic meters of natural gas.

Total will operate the project with a 50.1% interest alongside Petropars (19.9%) and the CNPC (30%). The consortium is expected to produce around 50 million cubic meters of gas per day from the offshore reserves of SP. 11 project.

During 20 years of gas extraction under the contract, an estimated volume of 335 billion cubic meters of rich, sour natural gas will be produced from the phase with 290 million barrels of gas condensate, 14 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 12 million tons of ethane and 2 million tons of sulfur as well as 315 billion cubic meters of light sweet gas.

The energy carriers to be produced by the project are estimated to be valued at more than $54b considering the current prices.

Preliminary production from the project will begin from the project 40 months after signature of the contract. Considering the intricacy of construction of pressure boosting facilities, 36 months has been allocated to studies and 60 months for platform construction under the contract.