Iran and Iraq emerged as major stumbling blocks to an OPEC agreement on reducing crude-oil output, as cartel members gathered ahead of their official meeting to tackle the thorny puzzle of how to share the pain of reducing their production

Iranian oil and gas sectors are very much attractive to foreign investors because of low cast of production, a senior expert said on Monday.

A senior official at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said on Friday that the country has signed three memoranda of understanding (MoU's) with three leading Russian oil companies for bilateral cooperation.

"I came here to meet with the Iranian petroleum minister just before attending the crucial meeting of OPEC members in Algiers and Minister Zangeneh assured me here that he would do and Iran would do everything possible to reach the consensus and to work for it," the official added.

Iran overtook political rival Saudi Arabia as India's top oil supplier in October, shipping data showed, just ahead of a producers' meeting this month to hammer out the details on output cuts aimed at reining in a global glut.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has voiced Tehran's readiness for boosting energy cooperation with Moscow, underlining the presence of Russian companies in various energy sectors in Iran.

Iran wants $200bn of investment in its energy industry over the next five years in order to raise production. Until now the country has been struggling to persuade overseas energy companies to commit amid wrangling over the contract terms offered by Tehran.

A senior Iranian oil official here on Monday voiced Tehran readiness to join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil freeze plan to help stabilize prices in international markets.

He further quoted Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh as saying that Iran would need at least 200 billion dollars of investment in its upstream and downstream sectors under the development plan.

Director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) International Affairs has announced that 62 percent of the Iranian oil is being exported to the Asian countries and the rest to the European states.