TEHRAN -- Oil Minister Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh said here Sunday that the contracts for phases 9 and 10 of the South Pars Gas Field are ready to be signed, IRNA reported.

Speaking in a conference on "National Resolve, Iranian Capabilities and Creating Jobs," he cited building of Parsian, Bid-e Boland refineries and the recovery of gas accompanied by oil in the Khark Island as one of the projects at hand.

He expressed Oil Ministry's readiness to cede important projects to domestic contractors and stressed the need for state support for private sector projects.

He said that domestic contractors should coordinate their operation in a bid to boost rate of economic and technology growth.

Zanganeh said the ministry has also made efforts to prepare the infrastructure for using natural gas "as the cleanest and most efficient substitute for oil derivatives" The share of natural gas in the household basket of goods was 42.2 percent last year (ended March 20) and over 30 million people have access to this efficient sources of energy, the oil minister underlined.

"A proposal is being studied to provide funds to Iranian contractors from the public sector. If approved, they will receive loans from the special foreign currency reserve fund on guarantees from respective employers," Zanganeh told the same conference earlier in the day.