Gholam-Hossein Nozari told PIN, “We have already signed an agreement with Belarusneft Company on the development of the field.

“We submitted the necessary data on the field to the Belarusian company and it prepared a master development plan (MDP).

“Removing the ambiguities, the NIOC’s board of directors approved the MDP and the Belarusian party is now busy with studying the financial and legal articles of the contract.”

The managing director of Petroleum Engineering and Development Company said, “During the recent visit Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid to Belarus, the two sides underlined the continuation of negotiations on MDP of the southern Iranian oilfield in Jofair region.”

Mehdi Bazargan added both presidents agreed to continue talks on development plan of Jofair to finalize the talks in a few months.

Technical negotiations on development plan had been finalized, said the official, adding the draft contract on development of the oilfield had been forwarded to Belarusneft Company and contractual negotiations were underway.

According to him, contractual negotiations focus on many details and usually take, at least, three months.

Bazargan had already told PIN the negotiations would lead to the signing of the contract on July 1.

Asked about Belarusneft’s investing partner, the official said, “After the contract is finalized, the company could introduce its partner for joint investment in the field and National Iranian Oil Company will investigate about the partner company.”

Iran and Belarus signed an early agreement on developing Jofair oilfield late last Iranian calendar year (ended March 20, 2007).

The minister of petroleum in his recent visit to Minsk said, “Belarus is oil producer and was an energy heartland for the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It seems that the country is capable of developing Iranian oilfields.”

Jofair oilfield is predicted to produce a daily average of 30,000 barrels crude oil per day once its development is finished. The accurate production figure in the long run will depend on conditions of the field during production period.