ROME (Dow Jones)--Iran's Oil Minister Gholam Hussein Nozari said Monday there was no deadline set for an accord be reached with Total SA (TOT) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) over the development of the country's vast natural gas South Pars development.
Nozari, speaking on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum in Rome, said he hoped to reach an agreement in June.
"We will try our best to reach an agreement with Total and Shell on these assets," the Iranian minister said, speaking through an interpreter. "Our goal is the order delivery in June."
Ali Vakili, managing director of the Pars Oil and Gas Co., which is directly negotiating on the projects, appeared to contradict the minister's statements when he spoke to Dow Jones Newswires a few minutes earlier.
"They have to sign in June," he said of Total.
Vakili said he hadn't met Total's Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie, despite both men attending the same conference in Rome.