"In addition to Farzad B gas field, Iran has signed two other basic agreements with Gazprom on development of North Pars and Kish gas fields," Zangeneh said.
The deal with Gazprom comes as over recent months Indian companies have been in talks with Tehran since 2009 for developing the Farzad B gas field, estimated to hold 21.68 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas in place, of which 12.8 tcf is recoverable.
Meanwhile, Indian media said Iran’s awarding Farzad B to Gazprom was in retaliation for New Delhi’s recent move to cut purchases of Iranian crude oil.
The volume cuts would put India's imports of Iranian crude for this fiscal year at 3,70,000 barrels per day (bpd), India’s media reported.
With 137.6 billion barrels of proven reserves, Iran has the world’s fourth largest crude deposits. In terms of gas reserves, according to the 64th edition of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy released in June 2015, Iran is the world’s top gas reserves holder with 33.8 trillion cubic meters.