"The Ministry of Petroleum is looking for a comprehensive approach to develop the Caspian Sea in order to be able to attract investment and transfer technology while creating jobs and supporting domestic manufacturing," he added.

Manouchehri highlighted the role of studies conducted on hydrocarbon fields in decision-making for their development, saying: "The results of the first phase of studies conducted by Norway's ORG on the Sardar-e-Jangal field and exploration blocks of the Caspian Sea are very promising and have sketched out a bright horizon for development in this region."

He said: "Big figures have been announced on Iran's hydrocarbon reserves. If these figures are confirmed we can pin hope on increased in-place and recoverable reserves."

Manouchehri said the Norwegian company had offered to rebuild Amir-Kabir Platform.

"In its proposal, ORG has pointed to the reconstruction of the platform by applying domestic potential in our country. It has also announced that after rebuilding the platform it will be able to drill four to five wells in the Caspian Sea, which would be promising," he added.

Manouchehri said that current effective agreements could not meet development needs in the Caspian Sea.

"The issue of type of contract for development in the Caspian Sea must be resolved. To that effect, a note in the 4^th Five-Year Economic Development Plan authorizes the government to opt for production sharing agreement in the development of the Caspian Sea," he added.