Azernews.Az

Iran will sign deals worth $7 billion to develop three oil and gas fields in the Persian Gulf, the country's deputy oil minister said.

Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr told the Shana news agency that the deals will be signed in the near future, but he did not specify the fields.

Last year, some 9 billion barrels ofin-situ oil and gas reserves were discovered, he said, adding that production at joint oil and gas fields increased 20 percent and 22 percent, respectively.

Khojasteh-Mehr told the Fars news agency on August 24 that some $30 billion was invested last year in the Iranian oil industry despite global sanctions.

"The oil industry faced sanctions last year, which led to a reduction in foreign investment. But we managed to inject some $30 billion to oil projects," he noted.

Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said in April that at least $30 billion will be invested in the domestic oil industry this year.

He added that a significant part of the amount will be allocated to the South Pars gas development projects.

The South Pars gas field is shared by Iran and Qatar. The Iranian share holds about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of the total world reserves.