Nozari told reporters on the sidelines of a conference that Naft Shahr, Paydar Gharb, Azar and Azadegan are among joint oil fields and expert studies on their exploration and development are underway in cooperation with Iraq.

Nozari noted that 16 appendices to the contract signed with China’s Sinopec for development of Yadavaran oil field have been finalized, adding, “During negotiations many articles of the contract have been finalized and only three articles remain. We have invited Sinopec to talk about them.”

The official stated that negotiations with the United Arab Emirates on gas exports continue and if a logical price is proposed for the Iranian gas, exports will being; otherwise, the gas will be consumed inside the country.

The managing director of National Iranian Oil Company also stated that contractors that breach their contracts or do not conform to the proposed timetable of the project will be denied new projects.

He stated that Iran is progressing on negotiations about development of North Pars gas field and added that field studies and preparation of the contract is under way.

Nozari noted that there are problems between India and Pakistan over the “peace pipeline”, which is to take the Iranian gas to India through Pakistan and expressed hope that the differences would be settled soon.

“The Russian Gazprom has offered proposals on the pipeline, but it is yet not clear on what part of the project it would be working,” he said.