The US is stepping up its efforts to keep international oil companies out of Iran, even as Washington and its European allies move to tighten UN sanctions designed to pressure Iran into suspending its uranium enrichment programme.
According to US press reports, the administration of President George W. Bush is targeting specific projects and directly and indirectly warning potential investors not to proceed with the schemes.
In particular, Phases 13&14 of the Persian LNG project pursued by Shell and Repsol YPF and the Golshan-Ferdows LNG proposal pursued by SKS Ventures of Malaysia have been targeted.
This week, Norway's Statoil said in its annual filing to the US Securities&Exchange Commission that its offshore operatorship contract of 2002 for the South Pars Phases 6 to 8 project couldmake it liable to US sanctions under the secondary Iran Sanctions Act of 1996.
The act, which at one time also covered Libya, has not been enforced, but the US Congress appears to be moving to pass a law that would make sanctions mandatory.
"What we are trying to do is to create multiple points of pressure on Iran in both the private and public sector," said Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs.
"These companies also need to know that the attitude of Congress on their activities in Iran is hardening."
The New York Times reported that the reason administration officials say no decisions have yet been made on whether to invoke or waive sanctions is that the deals by Shell, Repsol YPF, China, Malaysia and Pakistan are still at an early stage and that it is better to head them off by using persuasion rather than penalties.
The London daily Financial Times reported that the US appears to have backed away from a threat to impose stricter controls on US exporters to the United Arab Emirates, which serves as an important transshipment centre for Iran.
Sources in Tehran said the National Iranian Oil Company is able to obtain "almost any banned US oil industry equipment it wishes" via middlemen in Dubai.
Halliburton, which until a year ago openly supplied Iran with drilling equipment, recently moved its headquarters from Houston to Dubai.
At the UN, the US and its closest European allies are pushing for a new Security Council resolution next week, escalating sanctions against Tehran.
However, the Russians have been making apparently contradictory statements on the issue and there are third-party efforts by countries such as Switzerland to come up with a compromise short of sanctions.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to travel to New York to address the Security Council. He will reportedly focus on convincing the council that Iran has no intention to develop nuclear weapons.
By VAHE PETROSSIAN, London
© Upstream 2007
