India, Iran gas deal not expected before third quarter

Any definitive agreement between India and Iran on the development of the Farzad B offshore gasfields, in the Persian Gulf, seems unlikely before the third quarter of this year. Despite India’s ONGC Videsh having submitted a curtailed $3-billion development plan to the Iranian national oil company and despite several rounds of government-to-government negotiations, no deal could be settled by February – the deadline that was set when the previous one was missed last year, a senior Indian government official says.