The Iranian government and Russian energy giant Gazprom have reached an agreement on oil and gas cooperation, the national Iranian oil company (NIOC) said on Wednesday.

""Iran and Gazprom have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in the development of oil and gas fields, as well as investment and exploratory studies"" NIOC Managing Director Seifollah Jashnsaz said.
Jashnsaz said the parties were continuing negotiations with a view to reaching a final agreement and signing a contract.
Iranian Petroleum Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari said on Tuesday he hoped the ongoing negotiations with Gazprom to develop several sites at the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf and the North Azadegan oil deposit in the country's south would be successfully concluded in the near future.
Gazprom has been participating in the development of the South Pars field's second and third stages together with France's TotalElf and Malaysia's Petronas. The facility is operating in design mode to produce and process 20 billion cu m of gas annually.
(Source: RIA Novosti)