LONDON -- UK independent enterprise oil confirmed Wednesday that it had secured a 20 percent interest in phases six, seven and eight of South Pars gas field development, its first venture in the Middle East.

Chief executive Pierre Jungels said that given that almost all of enterprise's activities in the North Sea, Ireland, Italy, Gulf of Mexico and Brazil came under tax and royalty regimes, its Iranian buyback' deal formed a "natural hedging" against oil price falls.

News of the contract signed with Petropars, an offshoot of the National Iranian Oil Company, pushed enterprise share prices up by 8.5 pence to 548 pence Tuesday. Some economic analysts were said to have described the deal as "a bit of a coup."

The British independent oil explorer is to provide technical help in drilling some 30 production wells from three new platform complexes, each with a 32 inch pipeline to the shore, where gas processing will take place.

Enterprise is to bear an estimated $500 million share to the expected $2.65 billion cost of phases 6-8 of Iran's largest gas field over a six-year period.

Jungels said the buyback' method of payment from the sale of condensate and liquefied petroleum gas has the "virtue of providing a guaranteed return on capital, whatever the oil price." It was the first step in building up a profitable business in Iran, he said.

(IRNA)