Farzad-B Gas Field
Farzad-B Gas Field is an off-shore natural gas field that is situated 20kms away from Farsi Island in Iran. This gas field was discovered in 2008 by a consortium of three Indian companies, led by the state-owned ONGC Videsh (OVL) the overseas arm of ONGC which has a 40% stake. The other two companies were Indian Oil Corporation with a 40% stake and Oil India which had a stake of 20%. This consortium had offered to invest up to $11 billion for the development of the discovery of the gas field.
This gas field holds 23 trillion cubic feet reserves out of which about 60 per cent is recoverable. This field also holds gas condensates amounting to 5,000 barrels per billion cubic feet of gas.
OVL Contract Dispute:
OVL had signed an exploration contract in 2002, which expired in 2009. Since then the consortium has been trying to secure contract for the development of the field. Major disputes occurred over monetary settlements, and setting up of two pipelines. In 2018, when 75% of the deal was finalised, USA announced sanctions over Iran which threw a spanner on the deal. In January 2020, India was informed that Iran would develop the field on its own and would like to involve India appropriately at a later stage.
On 17th May, 2021 Iran gave contract to its domestic gas producer Petropars for the development of the Farzad-B Gas Fields.
