Tehran and Doha plan to establish a technical group to supervise the development of their joint gas field, known as South Pars in Iran and the North field in Qatar.

Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi, met with a Qatari energy delegation in Tehran to discuss co-operation on gas development on 24 February, according to Iranian state media.

The field structure is the world’s largest natural gas field. It contains reserves estimated at 1,800 trillion cubic feet, as well as 50 billion barrels of condensate.

The field is spread over 9,700 square kilometres, split between the two Gulf countries. The Iranian portion covers 3,700 square kilometres, while the Qatari area covers 6,000 square kilometres.

In 2005, Qatar imposed a moratorium on new projects in the North field because of concerns over the depletion of the field’s reserves. Originally scheduled to end in 2007, the moratorium has now been extended to 2015 to allow state energy company Qatar Petroleum more time to collect data on the structure of the field and evaluate how best to exploit the gas it holds.