Tehran has announced it will restart oil and gas drilling operations in the Caspian Sea, nearly 30 years after halting such activities.

The Iranian oil ministry revealed plans to tap into more than 600 million barrels of oil and 56.6 billion cubic meters of gas beneath its sector of the Caspian seabed.Iran stopped drilling in 1997 and ended deep-water operations in 2014 but now aims to “actively exploit” these vast reserves.

The ministry emphasized it is “open to international cooperation and investment,” signaling the scale and cost of this ambitious project.

This move is expected to heighten tensions with neighboring Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, both of which have already developed fields near Iran’s targeted areas. It may also push Tehran to finally ratify the 2018 Caspian Sea convention to formally defend its claims.

Experts suggest Iran might boost its naval presence in the region, potentially with Russian support, increasing the strategic stakes in the Caspian Sea.

“Iran hopes to actively exploit the more than 600 million barrels of oil and 56.6 billion cubic meters of gas under the seabed in its sector of the Caspian,” said the Iranian oil ministry.

“We are open to international cooperation and investment,” the ministry added, underscoring the project’s complexity.