The two sides inked the document in Tehran on Monday on the sidelines of the 15th Meeting of the Joint Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation of Iran and Russia.

The director general of Europe, Americas and Caspian Sea Neighbors department of the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum said the deal concerned cooperation in such areas as exploration, extraction, production and investment in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries.

Hossein Esmaeili Shahmirzadi said Tehran and Moscow had taken major steps in energy cooperation by signing the MoU, adding cooperation with the Russians on adoption of similar standards for the items and equipment used in their oil and gas industries was also one of the provisions of the MoU.

“By implementation of this article of the document, which has been added to the deal for the first time, the two sides will be able to take advantage of the parts and items used in each others’ oil industries,” he added.

Cooperation in developing oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea was also another issue considered in the MoU, Esmaeili added.

He also said that the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) and other Iranian research institutes had held constructive talks with their Russian counterparts on energy research projects.