Iran reiterated to China on Saturday it could take back control of a gas field being developed by its national oil company unless it speeds up investment, one week after the new Iranian oil minister said no foreign contractors were needed.

Iran has discovered a new gas field containing about 495 billion cubic meters of natural gas worth $133 billion in the southern part of the country. The reserve in Iran's Assalouyeh region also holds 658 million barrels of gas condensates, said Ahmad Qalehbani, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company.

Iraq signed a $365 million agreement to install a pipeline network to import natural gas from Iran for power stations in the country. The pipelines will eventually supply 25 million cubic meters of Iranian natural gas a day to the Sadr, al-Quds and South Baghdad power stations in the Iraqi capital, Mosaab Serri, a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, said by telephone today. The agreement with Iran, which holds the world s second-largest gas reserves, requires the approval of the Iraqi Council of Ministers and Parliament.