Iran issues ultimatum to India over gas field

NEW DELHI - Iran has set a month's deadline for a consortium of Indian state-run oil companies to sign the contract for developing a gas field discovered in the Persian Gulf in 2006, reported local daily The Times of India electronic edition Tuesday.

The consortium of ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of ONGC, northeast explorer Oil India Ltd and refiner-marketer Indian Oil Corporation, promised in 2011 to develop the Farsi offshore block with $5 billion, according to the report quoting unnamed sources.

But it did not sign a contract for fear of being blacklisted by the United States under the 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act of the U. S. which barred any entity to invest more than $20 million in any 12-month period in Iran, according to the report.

About 12 percent of India's crude oil import come from Iran.

India is reportedly routing oil payments through a Turkish bank. New Delhi has also refused to endorse EU-US sanctions on Iran.