Gazprom, NIOC Sign $40 Billion Energy Deal

TEHRAN -- The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Russian gas producer Gazprom signed on Tuesday a memorandum of understanding worth around $40 billion, Iran’s oil ministry’s news agency SHANA said.
The deal was signed during an online ceremony by the CEOs of both companies on the day Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tehran for a summit with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts.
Gazprom will help NIOC in the development of the Kish and North Pars gas fields and also six oil fields, according to SHANA. Gazprom will also be involved in the completion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and construction of gas export pipelines.
Iran sits on the world’s second-largest gas reserves after Russia, but U.S. sanctions have hindered access to technology and slowed development of gas exports.
Putin’s visit to Tehran is being watched closely as Russia’s operation in Ukraine has reconfigured the global oil and gas market, pushing prices to high levels which contribute to higher living costs and rising consumer inflation.
NIOC’s chief Mohsen Khojastehmehr and Gazprom’s deputy chairman Vitaly Markelov signed the memorandum of understanding.
Khojastehmehr said the deal with

Gazprom will be the largest foreign investment commitment on record in the entire history of the Iranian oil industry. It will account for a fourth of all investments planned for the Iranian oil sector until 2025, he said.

According to the official, delegations from the NIOC and Gazprom had held meetings in Russia’s Saint Petersburg and in Tehran before the signing of the agreement.

The official, who also serves as an Iranian deputy oil minister, said the two state companies will begin technical and economic talks on the investment plan in the near future.

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Gazprom, NIOC Sign $40 Billion Energy Deal