Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft is in talks with Iran to develop the country’s oilfields amid a countdown to the much-anticipated lifting of sanctions on Tehran.

Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin met Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh in Tehran Tuesday and announced the company’s readiness for investment in Iran’s oil projects, the Shana news agency said.

No further details were given about the content of the negotiations.

Sechin’s visit to Tehran is the second by Rosneft executives in less than a month. Representatives of the company visited Iran last month to discuss swap of oil, gas and oil products.

The arrangement would include Iran taking delivery of Russian oil, gas and their derivatives in the Caspian Sea for use in its northern provinces and deliver products in kind to Russia’s customers in the Persian Gulf.

Shana said Rosneft is also interested in developing the Changuleh oilfield in western Iran in cooperation with other Russian state-owned oil company Zarubezhneft and its second oil producer Lukoil.

Rosneft's Sechin and Iran's Zangeneh hold talks at Ministry of Petroleum in Tehran. ©Shana

Iran plans $2.2 billion of investment in Changuleh to produce 50,000 barrels per day (bpd). The field is part of the Anaran onshore block linked to the Azar field which Iran shares with Iraq.

Lukoil seeks to return to Azar which it left in 2011 after the US and the Europeans intensified sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Zarubezhneft would take up several projects worth a total $6 billion in Iran’s oil industry when sanctions were lifted, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said last month.

Russia has acted quickly to cement ties with Iran after the international nuclear accord with Tehran in July. Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov will lead one of Russia’s biggest trade delegations on a visit to Iran later this month.

Moscow hopes to clinch industrial deals worth $21 billion with Tehran after President Vladimir Putin visited Iran for the first time in eight years.

Energy Minister Novak has said Tehran and Moscow had devised a package of projects worth $35 billion to $40 billion for implementation.