A consortium of Indian companies, led by ONGC Videsh (OVL), is set to strike a deal with Iran by January  for the development of Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf, which is reported to have reserves of about 21.6Tcf of gas, reported Iran Daily. Although India had shown interest in the project early on, sanctions by the US and other western countries on Iran delayed progress on the project. The project is managed by Pars Oil and Gas Company.

Pars Oil and Gas Company’s Managing Director, Mohammad Meshkinfam, said that it deemed the “economic development model” was the main basis of disagreement between both the countries. He added that the development of Farzad-B will be put to international tender if a deal is not reached within the envisaged time, according to Zawya.

This move comes at a time when Iran surpassed Saudi Arabia to become the biggest oil supplier to India in October, after sanctions on the former were lifted in January. In October 2016, oil supply to India from Iran increased to 789,000b/d, compared with Saudi Arabia’s 697,000b/d.