Payoff to France for no sanctions. Italians have already gotten theirs and the Germans are hoping. Bruce http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13130-2342609,00.html
Total set to join $2bn oil project in Iran By Carl Mortished, International Business Editor TOTAL is ready to join a $2 billion Iranian energy project led by Inpex, the Japanese state oil company, to develop part of the giant Azadegan oilfield. The long-awaited launch of the Azadegan project, which had been expected to start in March last year, is likely to anger Washington, which is pressing for economic sanctions against the Teheran government. The issue of economic sanctions will be debated this week in the UN Security Council following Iran's refusal to comply with a UN deadline to halt uranium enrichment by the end of last month. * <http://business.timesonline.co.uk/images/white.gif> Azadegan, located near the Iraqi border, is reckoned to contain some 26 billion barrels of crude. Negotations between Inpex and National Iranian Oil Company began in 2004 over a joint venture in which the Japanese would acquire a 75 per cent share of the oil prospect. Wrangling over the terms of the deal and other delays have dogged the project. American pressure on the Japanese not to sign a deal has also been blamed for the slow progress. "There are no longer differences over the price and an understanding has been reached," said Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, Iran's representative to Opec, at the weekend. "Inpex, Total and the National Iranian Oil Company will execute the project," he added. Total is expected to take between 12 and 15 per cent of the project. The French multinational confirmed yesterday that it had an agreement with Inpex to acquire a stake in Azadegan when the project is launched, but a Total spokesman insisted this was not yet the case. Inpex has recently come under intense pressure to agree terms to develop Azadegan, with Iran threatening to offer the oil prospect to Chinese or Russian rivals if a deal was not signed by this month. Iran produces some 4 million barrels per day of crude and Japan is the biggest buyer. With no domestic oil resources, Japan is aggressive in its efforts to corner supplies overseas and has lobbied hard to exclude oil from any economic sanctions imposed on the Teheran government. However, the rising tension between Iran and the West has encouraged Japan to reduce its dependence on Iranian oil, cutting imports from 385,000 barrels per day to 285,000 bpd in the last quarter. China imported 339,000 bpd in the second quarter of this year, while India takes 230,000 bpd. Azadegan is expected to produce 150,000 bpd by mid-2008, rising to 260,000 bpd by early 2012. The Japanese hope to import two thirds of the field's output. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
