The agreement was signed by Jostein Kaare Kjerstad, ORG's executive director and KEPCO's managing director, Mohsen Delaviz in Tehran on Tuesday at the presence of Norwegian Ambassador Lars Nordrum, Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Amirhossein Zamaninia as well as Gholamreza Manouchehri, deputy for development and engineering at the National Iranian Oil Co.

Pointing to the long history of Norwegian companies' presence in Iran's oil and gas industry, Nordrum noted that the agreement marks the beginning of a potentially extensive collaboration between the two countries' energy companies.

"Oslo is willing to expand its ties with Iran via technology transfer due to the implementation of the JCPOA [the formal name of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers]," Nordrum noted, adding that Caspian Sea offshore structures let his country extend its cooperation with Iran's neighboring states in the northern region.

Iran's oil and gas developments are mostly concentrated in the south where it shares the giant South Pars Gas Field with Qatar in the Persian Gulf and several oilfields with Iraq.

Zamaninia also expressed hope that KEPCO's cooperation with ORG can pave the way to expand surveys in the Caspian Sea oil and gas fields.

"Concluding such deals indicates that international firms have faith in Iran," the official said, noting that Norwegian enterprises can play a major role in developing Iran's massive hydrocarbon reserves.