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| Four oil companies pull out of Iran: Washington |
| 2010-10-02 |
| [Al Arabiya] Under threat of U.S. sanctions, European oil firms Total, Shell, Statoil and Eni have pledged to stop investing in Iran in what amounts to a "significant setback" to Tehran, a U.S. official said Thursday. The pledges fall in line with tough new energy and financial measures against Iran that were passed by Congress and signed in July by U.S. President Barack B.O.Obama, which came atop U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed in June. "I am pleased to announce that we have received commitments from four international energy firms to terminate their investments and avoid any new activity in Iran's energy sector," Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said, calling the move "a significant setback to Iran." Steinberg said the move by France's Total, Anglo-Dutch Shell, Norway's Statoil and Italy's Eni makes the companies eligible to avoid U.S. sanctions. The companies "have provided assurance to us that they have stopped," or taken steps to stop business with Iran, he said. "However, The infamous However... some international oil companies have not yet committed to any new activities in Iran's petroleum sector. And for this reason the State Department is launching investigations into those companies," he said. He would not identify these firms or say how many there are. Two senators urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday to ensure that the administration punish Chinese and Turkish firms reportedly providing Iran with refined petroleum products. Steinberg also said the State Department decided to impose sanctions on Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), a Swiss-based subsidiary of Iran's national oil company, for its involvement in Iran's energy sector. State Department official Douglas Engel admitted that U.S. firms were already prohibited from most dealings with the firm, but said the move "does send a message" to companies in other countries not to work with NICO. The latest steps came a day after Obama ordered sanctions against eight senior Iranian officials for alleged human rights abuses during the crackdown against those protesting the 2009 elections. It was the first time Washington had imposed sanctions against Iran based on human rights abuses, Clinton said. Steinberg put the moves by the four major European energy firms in the context of the growing global effort to tighten the noose around Iran in a bid to halt its uranium enrichment program. "Iran is using revenues from its energy sector to fund its nuclear program, as well as procurement for its energy sector to mask procurement of dual-use items," Steinberg said. With both Iran and the United States signaling last week they are open to returning to negotiations, administration officials suspect Iran is willing to consider talks now that sanctions are beginning to bite. |
| Posted by:Fred |