Monday, July 27, 2009

Venezuela agrees to invest in Iran oil blocks: Nozari

Tehran Times Economic Desk
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=199629

TEHRAN – Venezuela has agreed to invest in the exploratory operations and development of 12 Iranian oil blocks, Iranian oil minister said on the sidelines of a seminar on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) industry in Tehran on Sunday. SHANA news agency quoted Gholam-Hossein Nozari as saying that during the recent visit by a Venezuelan energy delegation to Tehran which ended on Saturday, the two sides signed agreement for the participation of Venezuela in the projects.”

Iran is already one of Venezuela's partners in the development of Ayacucho oil field in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt. The two countries will invest $4 billion in the joint project.

Iran and Venezuela also signed an agreement to develop a new oil field in the Latin American country during Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez’s visit to Tehran in April.

According to the agreement Iran's Petropars Company will develop the oil field.

During Ramirez’s meeting with Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari, the two ministers also discussed the joint construction of two petrochemical production units, one in Iran and the other in Venezuela.

The two OPEC members also have agreed to establish a joint shipping company for transporting oil products.

-----------Russian energy minister may visit Tehran

""On the sidelines of the June's meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries' Forum in Doha, I negotiated with Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, so he will likely pay a visit to Tehran in the near future,"" Nozari said.

“Hopefully, the visit would give a boost to the Tehran-Moscow ties in the energy sector,” he added.

--------------Price of Turkmen gas imports halved

Iran’s oil minister said Sunday that the price for Iran’s gas imports from Turkmenistan is reduced by half in the county’s recent gas negotiations with the Central Asian country.

“The two sides agreed on the price of $170 per thousand cubic meters in their final negotiations,” Nozari said, the Mehr News Agency reported.

“Gas imports negotiations with Turkmenistan have been “finalized” and the new price agreed on by both parties is half the price of the previous contract,” he said.

According to the new contract, Iran’s gas imports from Turkmenistan are set to rise to 14 billion cubic meters a year, Iran’s oil minister added.

The new gas pricing formula has been enforced as of July 1st, 2009.

He went on to note that a new pipeline is going to be built in order to convey the gas produced in Turkmenistan’s Dauletabad gas field to the Iranian city of Sarakhs.

Turkmenistan has been supplying gas to Iran since 1997. Ties between the two energy powers were strained in winter 2008 after Turkmenistan halted gas sales to Iran, but during an official visit by Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to Tehran in February 2009, the two sides inked an agreement which would allow Iran to develop the Yolatan gas field in Turkmenistan and import a portion of the extracted gas annually.

------ President likely to inaugurate Zagros 2 Petrochemical Complex

“Zagros 2 Petrochemical Complex may be officially inaugurated next week by President Ahmadinejad,” Nozari said.

“Currently the unit has reached its full-capacity production volume and has started export,” he explained.


Comment: Sec. Clinton and President Obama's fruitless yet ongoing declaration that sanctions must be ramped up and then Iran will be motivated to not develop THE bomb is pure nonsense. As this blog has demonstrated over the preceding days, enough countries are motivated to engage in business with Iran if the USA and a few of the Western block countries actually did agree (up to now they have not) to impose a complete embargo on goods, Iran would only smile! Obama's foreign policy is leading us to war.

No comments: