Iran embarks on new wave of foreign oil deals
Iran embarks on new wave of foreign oil deals
VIENNA (Reuters): Iran is about to launch a new wave of
foreign investment in its oil and gas sector and has found little
trouble attracting interest despite the threat of U.S. sanctions,
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said.
Tehran was set to sign a deal within the next two weeks with
Australian energy and mining group BHP Billiton and Iranian
partner Petro Iran, Zanganeh said.
The project will redevelop the offshore Foroozan-Esfyandar
fields, tripling output to 150,000 barrels per day.
"These sanctions are only bad news for U.S. companies, not for
us because we have done everything that we have wanted in
previous years and U.S. sanctions couldn't prevent us from
developing our oil and gas fields and our petrochemical plants,"
Zanganeh told reporters.
U.S. companies are banned by executive order from Iran while
the 1995 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act seeks to punish international
companies that invest more than US$20 million in the oil and gas
industries of Iran or Libya.
Italian energy company Eni was the latest company to defy
possible sanction under ILSA by signing a $550-million deal June
30 to develop the onshore Darkhovin oil field.
The terms for BHP are similar to Eni's for Darkhovin in its
inclusion of a risk-reward element based on production
guarantees, Zanganeh said.
BHP and its partner face possible penalties if they cannot
boost the fields' output to 150,000 bpd from 50,000 in four to
five years.
Zanganeh said Tehran planned to finalize a deal for phases
nine and 10 of the South Pars gasfield by the end of August.
Once phase nine and 10 are concluded attention would turn to
phases 11 and 12 for which France's Total, BP, Eni and Spain's
Repsol have submitted separate bids.
Zanganeh said Iran aimed to conclude negotiations within 18
months with Japanese firms -- Japan National Oil Corp (JNOC),
Indonesia Petroleum Ltd, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co (JAPEX)
and Tomen -- for development of a part of the giant Azadagen
field.