Iran losing patience with India over Farzad-B
Iran is losing patience with India over its delay in formalising a 30% stake in the potentially prolific Farzad-B gasfield development.
"Farzad-B is still available to India, but I cannot wait (for India) for the rest of my life," Mehdi Safari, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for economic relations, told this report on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai on April 13. "We have given India a proposal, which has been very, very, very slow in responding; this is an offshore gasfield on our border with Saudi Arabia; we would like to develop it as soon as possible."
Farzad-B was discovered in 2008 by a consortium of ONGC Videsh (40% and operator), IndianOil (40%) and Oil India (20%) after it signed an exploration agreement for the Farsi block in 2002. Unwilling to violate US-led sanctions, OVL and its partners exited the block in November 2020 but retained their right to take 30% in the development phase.
Safari said discussions took place after the proposal was given to India, but they were inconclusive. "Mark my words: India has been very, very, very slow even though our ministry officials and NIOC (National Iranian Oil Company) have been ready for (more) discussions," said Safari.
He added that Iran could export gas to India through a subsea pipeline or as LNG from Oman. "Our pipeline to export gas to Oman will soon be ready," he said.
Safari said Indo-Iran trade was worth $18bn in 2018 but has dropped to just $2bn officially, plus $3bn unofficially after former US president Donald Trump imposed unilateral sanctions in 2018. According to Safari, Iran has been under sanctions for more than 40 years, referring to US sanctions first imposed in November 1979.
"We have not only survived but thrived under sanctions," he stressed. "We are self-sufficient in many areas, especially high tech."
Despite the sanctions, Safari said Iran is trading with more than 60 countries. "We didn’t circumvent or bypass the sanctions; we’ve found a solution to them through barter and other means," he said.
"We are bartering energy, (chemical-free) biomedicine, nanotechnology and other products; we export to Russia and even the European Union."