Mumbai: A consortium of Indian companies led by ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has announced a huge gas find in Iran with estimated reserves of around 10 trillion cubic feet - the largest find in Iran this year.

OVL had previously discovered oil in Iran''s Farsi offshore block that lies 90-km off Bushehr port.

''''We have now made a natural gas discovery in the fourth and final commitment well on the block,'''' a top company official said.

OVL has 40 per cent stake in the 3,500 sq km block. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has a similar stake, while Oil India Ltd has the remaining 20 per cent stake in the block.

Some estimates put the in-place gas reserves at 10 trillion cubic feet and oil reserves at 1 billion barrels.

OVL cannot take oil and gas found in the iranian block to India. Officials, however, said the reserves were under appraisal.

''''We have a service contract under which we are paid a pre-fixed return on the investment we make,'''' the official said.

OVL will now present a development plan to the Iranian authorities for bringing to production the oil and gas finds in the block.

Iran will pay a 35 per cent rate of return on the expenditure it made during exploration phase. For the development phase, the rate of return is expected to be around 32 per cent.

Last year, OVL had found oil traces in the first well it drilled in the extant corner of the block. The second well flowed 2,000 barrels per day of oil, while the reserve was a little less in the third well.

The fourth well was drilled by ONGC''s own Kedarnath rig to a total depth of 3,400 metres, the official added.

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