Iran has signed new contracts in the gas sector worth $6.5 billion, a senior official was quoted as saying on Tuesday, without giving precise details.

In a statement designed to show Iran's gas sector was not hampered by international sanctions, Javad Oji, head of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said several big pipeline and refinery deals had been signed in recent weeks.

'In the past week the contract on the construction of two main Iranian pipelines taking Iranian gas to Europe and Pakistan was signed,' Oji was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.

He put the total value of the contract at $2.5 billion but did not say who the contract was with.

'Recently, the agreement on the partnership of Saderat Bank in the construction of Bidboland gas refinery and Parsian refinery geared to the production of ethane at a value of $4 billion was signed,' he said.

Saderat, one of Iran's five major state-owned banks, will have an 80 per cent share in the two projects, and NIGC will hold the rest.

Iran says it needs around $25 billion a year in oil and gas industry investment.

The state news agency IRNA reported an official of the state Pars Oil and Gas Co. as saying Iran planned to invest some $40 billion in the giant South Pars gas field in the Gulf in the course of the next five years.

Hossein Nosratzadeh said the total volume of the investment in the gas field, jointly-owned with the Qatar, stands at some $30 billion.-Reuters