Zarubezhneftegaz Company of Russia has announced readiness to develop a newly discovered gas field in Iran.

The Russian company had signed an MOU with Iran in 2010, the Pana News Agency reported.

The gas field is located near the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf

The company will soon open an office in Tehran, an official with Zarubezhneftegaz said, adding that it is ready to carry out exploration, drilling, extraction, and refining operations in Iran’s oil and gas industry.

In November 2009 Russian Gazprom and National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), signed a memorandum of understanding, to cooperate on the development of the Azar and Changuleh oil fields, with estimated reserves of 2 billion barrels.

However, in August 2011 Iran changed its mind and rebuffed Russian participation after deciding to operate the fields using a local consortiums. Iran said Russia had failed to meet its obligations and was therefore breaking the agreement.

Another Russian company Lukoil suffered a $63 million loss when it withdrew from a project in the Aran oilfield.