MUMBAI, Feb 2 (UNI) In a bid to tap the growing gas market in India, Iran has offered equity stake in its gigantic South Pars Gas field provided New Delhi buys the gas produced from the fields.
"We have offered up to two phases out of the 28 phases of South Pars Gas Fields Development provided New Delhi bring a market to sell gas produced from the fields," National Iranian Gas Export co managing director R Javadi told mediapersons on sidelines of the 2nd Asia Gas Buyers Summit here.
The 3,700-square km South Pars Gas Field, which is an extension of the Qatar North Dome Gas Field, is located 105-km Southwest of the Assaluyeh Port in the Persian Gulf.
It has an estimated 14 trillion standard cubic metres of in-place gas reserves and 18 billion barrels of condensate in multiple strata.
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has decided to develop the field in phases to secure the increasing internal demand for natural gas.
The country also plans to use it for re-injection in its oil fields and export.
Javadi said one phase could produce anywhere between one billion cubic feet to 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas and could entail an investment of 1.1 billion dollars for its development.
The offer of equity in south pars fields is the latest attempt by Teheran to get New Delhi to buy its natural gas either by laying a pipeline through Pakistan or in form of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
"We had previously offered them (Indian Oil Companies) equity in oil fields but they haven't moved since," he said complaining of slow progress on part of Indian companies.
Iran's offer of equity in its oil and gas fields is attached with a rider of buying its natural gas.
"India has to bring its huge gas market along," Javadi said indicating that the delivered cost of Iranian gas on Indian borders (either through pipeline or in form of LNG) would be in the range of 3.5 dollars to 4 dollars per million BTU (British Thermal Unit).
"Any gas imports should meet the local aspirations and we feel our gas fits the bill," he said.
The Iranian petroleum ministry had, in September 2003, offered three producing oilfields, including Parsi reservoir with a daily output of 100,000 barrels.
The others are Sarvak in Northern Azadegan block with output of 46,000 barrels per day and Cheshmeh Khosh with 31,000 barrels.
The semi-discovered blocks on offer from Iran are Abadan Plain and Saveh-Gartnsar.
Later, it also offered 40 per cent equity in the sprawling oilfield Azadegan South to get India moving on the proposed LNG project.
Azadegan is Iran's biggest oil field with potential reserves of around 26 billion barrels of crude oil.
This offer came after ONGC Videsh Ltd discarded a previous list of three producing and two semi-discovered fields saying that "an additional list was necessary" as the data on previous fields were limited.
"We are yet to see progress from the Indian side," Javadi said and expressed the hope that a deal between two countries would be finalised soon.
NCP Punjab unit extends support to Sangma CHANDIGARH, Feb 2 (UNI) The Punjab unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has extended support to breakaway NCP faction led by PA Sangma, who recently parted ways with NCP leader Sharad Pawar opposing support to the Congress Party for the coming Lok Sabha elections.
In a statement issued here today, NCP Punjab unit president Gurcharan Singh said the party's state unit had decided to support Sangma.
The decision was taken by the NCP state unit in its meeting held in Mohali, near here, yesterday.
The general body meeting of the NCP state unit would be called soon to mobilise the public opinion in view of the coming Lok Sabha elections, Gursharan Singh stated.
Cong flays BJP for creating 'false feel good impression' JALANDHAR, Feb 2 (UNI) Charging the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with exploiting the country's foreign policy and security for electoral gain and creating 'false feel good impression', the Congress today claimed that the BJP would not able to retain its present strength in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
The issue of the country's security and foreign policy had never been exploited for electoral gains so far but the BJP, desperate to re-grab power at the centre, was violating this convention and giving a false impression that it had achieved something extraordinary on the Indo-Pak front, AICC spokesman and Rajya Sabha member Ashwani Kumar said at a press conference here.
He said what was being displayed as a major breakthrough by the ruling NDA in this regard was the outcome of the Shimla agreement and the good work done by the Congress-led governments during the past 45 years.
Kumar said the Vajpayee government actually had never had a well-defined strategy to deal with Pakistan or any other crucial issue but only time-tested foreign policy framed by the Congress led governments had paid dividends.
He claimed that whatsoever progress was being witnessed in the country today, which the BJP had been projecting as feel good factor, was the result of continued efforts made by the Congress governments during the past 45 years.
Kumar said despite the good work and performance by its governments in the past, the Congress had never projected such false impressions of so called 'shining India' or 'feel good factor'.
He said that this feel good slogan of the BJP was going to be an effective tool in the hands of the Congress which would counter it among the electorate by exposing the failures of the present government.
He said communal riots, crimes against women and weaker sections of the society and other burning problems had touched an all-time high during the regime of the NDA government.
He said besides exposing the government failure, the Congress would centralise its poll campaign on issues like secularism, economic development, problem of unemployment and communal harmony.
He said that an intellectuals' meet was being organised by the party here on February 15 to convey the party message, ideology and issues for the next Lok Sabha elections among the intellectual class.
Punjab chief minister captain Amarinder Singh, party national general secretary Mohsina Kidwai and several other leaders would participate in the meet.
