Iran gave India one more big blow, ONGC out of important project

Tehran, Ta. 17 July 2020, Friday

Amid news of India's exit from the Chabahar-Jahidan railway project, Iran is now likely to go it alone on one more major project. The project is for the development of gas field Farzad-B block. "Iran has informed India that it is currently going to develop the gas field alone," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told a press briefing here on Thursday. According to Iran, India may be involved in the project later.

A spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry said: "There is a lot of news about the Farzad-B gas field deal. India's ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) was also involved in the exploration stage. However, policy changes from Iran have affected bilateral cooperation. In January 2020, we were told that in the future, Iran would develop its own gas field and wanted India's presence in later stages. The issue is being discussed.

India has been trying to get a gas field contract since 2009. The Farzad-B block has 21.6 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves. According to the report, the Farzad-B block development, which was earlier a joint project of Iran and ONGC abroad, may now be handed over to a local company. The United States ended the nuclear deal with Iran and imposed all kinds of sanctions on it, which also affected India's projects in Iran.

The decision comes at a time when Iran and China are finalizing a 400 400 billion diplomatic and economic agreement for 25 years. The Iranian parliament's seal on the strategic partnership between Iran and China is awaited. In this regard, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs regarding the Chabahar port and Chabahar-Jahidan railway project said that Iran's response to these projects is awaited.

It is learned that Iran has expelled India for delaying funding for the Chabahar-Jahidan railway project. However, according to the Foreign Ministry, India is currently awaiting official approval from Iran for these projects. "The government has approved to spend 300 300 million from the National Development Fund for the construction of the railway link," Iranian Vice President Eshah Jahangiri said recently.

Even strategically, the Chabahar project is very important for India. Under this project, India-Iran and Afghanistan agreed on a number of projects. Chabahar is Iran's only seaport in the Gulf of Oman.