Iran is set to finalize a contract with Ashghabat to develop Turkmenistan's Yolotan natural gas field, the Iran Daily newspaper reports Tuesday.
"The draft contract will be finalized in the next two weeks and sent to the Turkmen side," the daily quotes Petropars managing director Gholamreza Manouchehri as saying, citing the semiofficial Fars News Agency.
Manouchehri added that Iran has requested technical data needed to estimate costs, reports Iran Daily.
Iran Daily cites Manouchehri as saying Turkmenistan wants to develop the field within the framework of an Energy Performance Contract (EPC), which requires Ashghabat to supply the costs of the project.
"Their other proposal is that we receive the produced gas in return for the project cost, and we are studying it," he added, reports Iran Daily.
The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-February for Iranian companies to develop Turkmenistan's large Yolotan natural gas field during a visit to Tehran by a delegation of Turkmen officials that included Turkmenistan's president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, according to domestic media reports.