India has lost its $3-billion bet on Iran regarding the giant Farzad-B gas field in Farsi block. The Indian state run oil companies discovered this asset back in 2008 and since then the negotiations were being carried out by top leadership of both the countries.
The National Iranian oil Company cracked the deal in $1.7 billion after Tehran had rejected India's $2-billion offer. The Farzad-B is the second Indian proposal that was rejected even after the involvement of top leadership of both the countries.
ONGC Videsh was leading the Indian consortium that invested $400 million and signed the exploration agreement in 2002. However, Iran allowed the agreement to expire in 2009, just a year after the discovery of Farzad-B.
The Consortium was still trying to find out the ways to recover the investment. Since then several deadlines for the deal were missed. In addition to it Tehran also declared Indian offer as unsatisfactory or sometimes added new conditions as well.
It was...