Iran will soon sign a deal with Venezuela to invest $2 billion in the Latin American country's oil sector, says a top Iranian official.

Iran's Petropars Co. will develop the seventh block of Venezuela's Ayacucho oil field, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Hossein Noqrekar-Shirazi said Wednesday.

Petropars has recently been conducting feasibility studies for the Ayacucho block 7. Drilling in the oil field started in September 2006 during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Venezuela.

Noqrekar-Shirazi said Tehran and Caracas would jointly invest $1 billion for the construction of two petrochemicals-producing factories, one in Iran and the other in Venezuela.

The two countries also plan to form a joint company to buy and rent oil tankers with a total investment of $400 million as well as a joint bank with $2.2 billion in capital, he added.

Iran and Venezuela signed 15 cooperation pacts in economic and industrial sectors during the two countries' fifth joint economic commission session in Caracas last week.

AKM/HGH