Gas field: Iran steps up pressure on foreign firms
Iran plans to replace foreign companies which have "dragged their feet for years" with domestic firms in developing its giant South Pars natural gas field, the oil minister was quoted as saying yesterday.
Massoud Mirkazemi did not name any firms in a report carried by Mehr News Agency. But another official last month said Iran had given Royal Dutch Shell and Repsol one week to decide on their involvement in the offshore field. Iran says both Anglo-Dutch Shell and Spain's Repsol have procastinated on finalising their involvement in the world's largest reservoir of gas.
It has set similar deadlines in the past as a way of pressuring foreign companies, which have become increasingly wary of investing in the Islamic Republic due to a long-running dispute with the West over its nuclear programme.
"We have recently notified foreign companies, which have dragged their feet for years in some phases of the gas field, that we would not negotiate with them any more and plan to cede the implementation of these projects to domestic companies," Mirkazemi said.
Ali Vakili, head of the state Pars Oil and Gas Company, said it would soon sign contracts with Iranian companies on the development of South Pars phases 19, 22-24, 27 and 28.
"We will not wait for foreign companies... Iranian firms possess the necessary capability for the implementation of the South Pars gas field projects from start to end," the Oil Ministry website SHANA quoted him as saying. Mirkazemi reiterated that Iran needed to invest $200 billion (Dh734bn) in its all-important energy sector in the 2010-15 period, but suggested it currently faced a shortage of funds.
Analysts say Iran, which has started issuing bonds to help fund South Pars projects, needs to attract foreign capital to help expand and modernise its oil and gas industries.
"Upon the realisation of this level of investment there will be a considerable leap forward in the development of the oil industry in Iran," Mirkazemi said, referring to the five-year plan.