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ABU DHABI (CNNMoney)

Iran and world powers are meeting in Vienna this week in an attempt to reach agreement on reconfiguring its nuclear program before a November 24 deadline.

It's far from certain that a deal will be done, but businesses are eager to move quickly to tap the potential of Iran's energy resources and highly-educated population of 80 million.

Related: These countries are getting killed by cheap oil

When he was at Goldman Sachs, emerging market strategist and author Jim O'Neill had Iran on his list of "Next 11" countries -- those offering the best opportunities for sustainable growth.

Oil and gas reserves

Iran's energy sector has been starved of technological know how. A return to the fold could change all that, and the potential is enormous. "The Iranian gas production can explode," said Fereidun Fesharaki, chairman of FACTS Global Energy. "It can supply huge amounts of gas and that gas has not been developed."

Iran sits on 33 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, or 18% of global reserves, according to the 2014 BP (BP) World Energy Report. With its giant South Pars field, Iran ranks number one in the world ahead of Russia and Qatar.

There's plenty of oil too. Iran has the second largest proven reserves in the Middle East, behind only Saudi Arabia. At 157 billion barrels, those reserves account for more than 9% of the global total.

Playing catch up

The rest is here:
Iran nuclear deal could spur rapid growth