National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has formally approved the feasibility report submitted by ONGC Videsh (OVL) and its consortium partners - the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Oil India on the discovery made in Iran's Farsi offshore block, which covers an area of 3,5000 sq km.

The OVL consortium will now start working towards the development of the gas field. The block holds recoverable gas reserves of about 12.5 trillion cubic ft of gas and 1 billion barrels of oil. The Indian consortium is likely to invest about $3 billion (approx Rs.14,700 crore) in the proposed project. They have already invested $90 million (approx Rs.441 crore) in the field.

OVL is the operator of the block with a 40 per cent participating interest, while IOC holds another 40 per cent and the remaining 20 per cent stake is held by Oil India.