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Iran says favours signing Azadegan deal with Japan |
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| IRAN: August 5, 2003 | ||
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TEHRAN - Iran said yesterday it still favoured signing a $2 billion deal with a Japanese consortium to exploit its giant Azadegan oilfield although it has entered talks with other companies as Japan stalls on the project.
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A Japanese government-backed consortium missed a June 30 deadline to seal the deal to develop part of Azadegan - one of the world's biggest untapped oilfields - due to Tokyo's concerns about Iran's nuclear energy programme. Iranian officials have warned they may hand the Azadegan contract to other companies if Japan continues to hold off under pressure from Washington, which accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons technology. "We are in talks with different companies (over Azadegan)", government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh told a weekly news conference. He declined to name the other companies. "We still welcome the idea of signing an agreement with Japan because preliminary work has been done (with them)," he added. The Japanese consortium, which has been negotiating the Azadegan deal for over two years, consists of Tomen Corp 8003.T , Japan Petroleum Exploration Co (JAPEX) and INPEX Corp. Fully onstream, Azadegan is expected to pump 600,000 barrels per day from estimated recoverable reserves of about eight billion barrels. Iran denies that its nuclear energy programme would be used to make nuclear weapons.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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