Austrian oil and gas group OMV has signed a preliminary agreement with the National Iranian Oil Company which could see the companies jointly develop parts of the South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf, a liquefaction plant for liquefied natural gas and a subscriber agreement for liquefied natural gas.
OMV said that the contract in Iran would involve two of the group’s business segments: exploration and production, and gas. OMV added that the intended Iranian activities would complement the planned LNG regasification terminal in Croatia that the group is currently involved in.
OMV said that the Croatian LNG terminal should start operating in 2011-2012 and added that Iran, with its substantial gas reserves, could be a major source of supply. According to Forbes, if finalized, the deal would be OMV’s first natural gas agreement with Iran, which has the second largest natural gas reserves in the world.
Forbes also cited Viennese daily publication Die Presse as revealing that the agreement could be worth around E22 billion spread over a 25-year period.
In a press release, OMV said that its talks with the National Iranian Oil Company are confidential, but added that concrete results are not expected until the second half of 2007.