ISTANBUL (Bloomberg) – Turkey’s state oil company plans to invest $3 billion over 10 years in Iran’s South Pars natural-gas field, company head Mehmet Uysal said.

Turkiye Petrolleri AO plans to extract 20 billion cubic meters of gas per year at three blocks in the field, Uysal said in an interview at an energy conference in Istanbul Wednesday.
Turkey, whose energy demands are growing by 6 percent annually, signed a framework energy agreement with Iran last month. Like western European rivals Total SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Turkiye Petrolleri is turning to South Pars, the world’s largest reservoir of gas, counter to U.S. efforts to keep Iran isolated through economic sanctions.
“Lots of energy companies have investments in that area,” Uysal said in the interview. “I’m sure with time there will be a solution, as with Libya.” Libya, once under a U.S. embargo, is now opening up its oil fields to foreign investment.
Turkiye Petrolleri wants to begin production at South Pars “as soon as possible,” Uysal said. Under last month’s agreement, Iran and Turkey have to negotiate contracts for South Pars until the end of February, with a possibility of a two-month extension.
Turkish pipeline company Botas will separately form a venture with an Iranian partner to build a pipeline to Turkey, Uysal said. A Botas presentation at the conference Wednesday showed a swooping yellow line connecting South Pars on the Persian Gulf to the Turkish network