An Iranian oil official says the country is not behind its neighbor Iraq in developing the West Karoon oilfields.

Gholamreza Manouchehri, deputy for development and engineering at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), told the reporters on the sidelines of an oil exhibition in the Kish Island on Tuesday that the fields located in the play are being developing and their development projects are not behind schedule.

"A tender for developing Azadegan Oilfield is on the go; regarding Yaran Oilfield, an agreement has been obtained with Persia Oil and Gas Company whose final contract will be signed; also regarding Yadavaran Oilfield talks are on the go with Sinopec," the official said.

"Fortunately, NIOC negotiations for developing oil and gas field are reaching fruition and hopefully we will witness the results in oil industry next [calendar] year," the official added.

He also said that Total is carrying out its duties in the South Pars phase 11 project, adding the NIOC talks with Denmark's Maersk for developing the oil layer of the supergiant gas field are continuing.