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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran admits oil projects suffering |
| 2006-12-21 |
| Iran’s oil minister on Wednesday admitted that Tehran was having trouble financing oil projects, in a rare acknowledgment of the economic cost of its nuclear dispute. “Currently, overseas banks and financiers have decreased their co-operation,” Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh told the oil ministry news agency, Shana. The statement underlined the impact of de facto financial sanctions on the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ second biggest oil producer. As the controversy over Iran’s nuclear programme has escalated, the US has applied pressure on European banks and financial institutions to curb dealings with Tehran. The fact that the UN Security Council could soon impose the first – even if mild – sanctions against Iran has compounded the political uncertainty and risks of doing business with Tehran. Iranian officials insist there is international interest in investing in Iran’s oil industry and European executives play down any impact on companies seeking deals in Iran. The National Iranian Oil Company has signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s CNOOC to develop the North Pars gas field. The memorandum, if it turns into a final deal, would bring $16bn worth of Chinese investments for the initial part of any deal, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Wednesday. But western officials hope the financial squeeze’s effect on the oil industry, the backbone of Iran’s economy, will help raise domestic pressure for a change of policy and persuade the regime to heed international calls for a suspension of its uranium enrichment programme. Iran’s oil production capacity, at 4.3m barrels per day, is set to reach 5m bpd, according to the country’s latest five-year plan, which closes in 2009. This would involve $16bn of investment in the sector. But the International Energy Agency reckons that Iran’s longer term plans to lift oil production to 6.8m bpd by 2030 would require nearly $80bn in investment, with expansion plans for the gas industry requiring an extra $85bn. “There’s a growing awareness that de facto sanctions are beginning to hurt and everyone understands the future of the economy depends on the development of oil and gas,” said a western diplomat. “Banks are not lending, partly because of US pressure, but the banks are also drawing their own conclusions.” Mr Vaziri-Hamaneh said projects would be financed from the Oil Stabilisation Fund, which accumulates oil windfalls to promote the private sector and save for periods of low oil prices. |
| Posted by:.com |
| #7 IRNA.com > UNSC RESOLUTION INCAPABLE OF WORKING + [MOUD] NO ONE HEEDS THE DICTATES OF THE SUPERPOWERS [yoohoo, PUTIN, also means you] + CHINA-IRAN TIES BENEFIC FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE. The conventional wisdom is that CHINA needs oil from Iran, NOT THE OPPOSITE. Iff Baktiari and other Perts are correct, China like Russia is only shooting herself in the foot. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-12-21 21:26 |
| #6 I do recall many sites saying Iranian oil production has already peaked & is on its way down, permanently, unless they discover vast new supplies, which is highly unlikely, no matter what is invested. Their trouble financing new projects is at least partly due to sensible investors declining to waste their money on unlikely prospects, as well as projected sanctions. Iran is headed toward both an oil production and demographic decline or collapse in the next 2 generations. For background purposes: Dr Ali Morteza Samsam Bakhtiari is a retired Iranian oil industry expert. He had this to say about Iranian oil reserves and production: "It goes without saying that when assaying Middle Eastern oil reserves, one should tread carefully. Because, on the one hand, oil reserves' estimation is both a science and an art; and on the other hand, seen from the point of view of most Middle Eastern countries, oil reserves are more political than geological. Thus, nonscientific views come to prime over science and further enhance the various types of shades that have led to an overall opaque situation in the Middle East."..."As for Iran, the usually accepted official 132 billion barrels is almost 100 billion barrels over any realistic assay. If the higher figure was for real, its oil industry would not be struggling day in and day out to keep output at between 3.0-3.5 million barrels per day (inclusive of Persian Gulf offshore)" |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2006-12-21 18:37 |
| #5 China just looking for a better price? Merely triangulating against Western interests as usual. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-12-21 18:08 |
| #4 ...according to the countryÂ’s latest five-year plan, How Stalinst! You think that might be part of the problem? |
| Posted by: Raj 2006-12-21 11:54 |
| #3 China just looking for a better price? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-12-21 10:39 |
| #2 Having a few oil and gas wells spontaneously explode effects wondrous changes in bankers willingness to lend. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-12-21 09:26 |
| #1 If it wernt for oil these countries these countries ie Saudi,Iran and Iraq would serve no purpose in the World!!!! |
| Posted by: Ebbolump Glomotle9608 2006-12-21 09:21 |