10 November 2010
Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr said the country has held talks with China for the development of the Azadegan oilfield, a report said.
The senior Oil Ministry official told Mehr News Agency on Monday that Iran has been engaged in discussions with Chinese companies for the further development of the giant oilfield in the southwest of the country.
"The development of the oilfield has not stopped despite the discussions (for its expansion)," he went on to say.
Khojasteh-Mehr also pointed out that the Islamic Republic seeks to increase oil output from the joint oilfield with the participation of Iraq.
Azadegan is Iran's largest onshore oilfield which the country shares with Iraq.
Iran currently extracts over 50,000 barrels of oil per day from the field.
It is one of the biggest oilfields discovered in the world in the past thirty years.
Azadegan oilfield, which has about 42 billion barrels of oil, was initially to have been developed with Japanese oil and natural gas producer Inpex Corp.
In mid October, Inpex said it has agreed with Iran's state-owned National Iranian Oil Co. to exit from Azadegan oilfield in the face of US sanctions against companies doing business in the country.
The Japanese company in 2006 significantly lowered its stake from 75 percent to 10 percent due to worries about the risk of sanctions imposed on Iran over its civilian nuclear program.
Iran is the fourth-biggest oil supplier to resource-poor Japan.
On July 26, the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran, which mainly target investment in and technical assistance to Iran's refining, liquefaction, and liquefied natural gas sectors.
The EU sanctions followed UN and US sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr said the country has held talks with China for the development of the Azadegan oilfield, a report said.
The senior Oil Ministry official told Mehr News Agency on Monday that Iran has been engaged in discussions with Chinese companies for the further development of the giant oilfield in the southwest of the country.
"The development of the oilfield has not stopped despite the discussions (for its expansion)," he went on to say.
Khojasteh-Mehr also pointed out that the Islamic Republic seeks to increase oil output from the joint oilfield with the participation of Iraq.
Azadegan is Iran's largest onshore oilfield which the country shares with Iraq.
Iran currently extracts over 50,000 barrels of oil per day from the field.
It is one of the biggest oilfields discovered in the world in the past thirty years.
Azadegan oilfield, which has about 42 billion barrels of oil, was initially to have been developed with Japanese oil and natural gas producer Inpex Corp.
In mid October, Inpex said it has agreed with Iran's state-owned National Iranian Oil Co. to exit from Azadegan oilfield in the face of US sanctions against companies doing business in the country.
The Japanese company in 2006 significantly lowered its stake from 75 percent to 10 percent due to worries about the risk of sanctions imposed on Iran over its civilian nuclear program.
Iran is the fourth-biggest oil supplier to resource-poor Japan.
On July 26, the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran, which mainly target investment in and technical assistance to Iran's refining, liquefaction, and liquefied natural gas sectors.
The EU sanctions followed UN and US sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
© Iran Daily 2010
