Jan 23 2012 |
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WSJ(1/23) Iran Sanction Bill Exempts BP Project
Monday, Jan 23, 2012
(From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
By Benoit Faucon, Alessandro Torello and Alexis Flynn
British and European Union officials have convinced some U.S. lawmakers to ensure that new sanctions against Iran exempt a BP PLC-led natural-gas project, as Western governments try to isolate Tehran without harming their own energy security.
The $20 billion project in the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan is seen as vital to alleviating Europe's dependence on Russia as its largest supplier of natural gas.
"There is broad-based consensus in the House and Senate that our sanctions policy should impose maximum economic pain on the Iranians without allowing Russia to hold Eastern Europe hostage for energy supplies," said a congressional aide familiar with the European lobbying effort.
Officials from the British Foreign Office, the EU and BP said they asked U.S. lawmakers in December to ensure new sanctions don't block the project, in which Iranian state oil company Naftiran Intertrade Co. holds a 10% stake.
A BP spokesman said discussions on Shah Deniz II were part of the company's "routine engagement" with U.S. lawmakers.
The sanctions bill by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.) could complicate U.S. business for any company working with Iran's energy sector. But the current legislation says it won't affect efforts "to bring gas from Azerbaijan to Europe and Turkey," or to achieve "energy security and independence from Russia."
The bill is now with the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs. Representatives for Ms. Ros-Lehtinen couldn't be reached for comment on Sunday.
Naftiran is a Swiss-based subsidiary of state-owned National Iranian Oil Co. A Naftiran official declined to comment. U.K.-based BP and Norway's Statoil ASA hold 25.5% stakes; the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan, France's Total SA and Russia's Lukoil Holdings hold 10% stakes and Turkish Petroleum owns the remaining 9%.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
23-01-12 0408GMT
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