Indian firms could be hit by sanctions over Iran ties
By Sara Rajabova
India’s three oil companies are among the five global companies named by the U.S. administration for having energy ties with Iran, for which they can face sanctions by Washington.
Speculations are rising that the U.S. may impose sanctions on Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL), which have been identified by the U.S. government accountability office.
The U.S. government accountability office has named ONGC, IOC and OIL along with China’s CNPC and Sinopec as “foreign firms reported to have engaged in commercial activity in Iran’s energy sector between 8 November 2013, and 1 December 2014”, the U.S. GAO has said in a statement, as reported by the Times of India.
The three have been named for their stake in the Farsi offshore block in Iran.
While U.S. GAO had included only ONGC and OIL in its previous report last year, it kept IOC out because of “insufficient information available”.
However, in this year’s report it said: “The firm’s (IOC’s) 2013-14 annual report stated that the firm has a 40 percent participating share in the Farsi Block Project.”
The U.S. Iran sanctions act provides for steps against persons, including foreign firms, investing more than $20 million in Iran’s energy sector in any 12-month period.
All the three firms gave similar response to US GAO saying the "exploration contract (for Farsi block) expired in 2009" and that they had "not carried out any activity after 2007 in the Farsi Block".
GAO said the U.S. has not imposed sanctions on any firm for their Iran energy ties since 1998.
The three companies explored for oil and gas in Iran's Farsi block and proposed investing $5.5 billion to produce gas from the 21.68 trillion cubic foot discovery they made in the offshore area located near the Saudi Arabian border.
They, however, haven't invested in the development due to differences over the contract with the Iranian government, the Times of India reported.
The U.S. and European Union have imposed sanctions on Iran accusing the Islamic Republic of developing a nuclear weapon, allegations Iran has always denied, arguing that its nuclear energy program is purely peaceful.
Since Iran's nuclear program became public in 2002, the International Atomic Energy Agency has been unable to confirm Tehran's assertions that its nuclear activities are exclusively for peaceful purposes and that it has not sought to develop nuclear weapons.
The United Nations Security Council has adopted six resolutions since 2006 requiring Iran to stop enriching uranium and cooperate with IAEA. Four resolutions have included progressively expansive sanctions to persuade Tehran to abandon its ambitions. The sanctions include a ban on the supply of heavy weaponry and nuclear-related technology to Iran, a block on arms exports, and an asset freeze on key individuals and companies.
Besides, the U.S. and EU have imposed additional sanctions on Iranian oil exports and banks since 2012.
The U.S. sanctions prohibit almost all trade with Iran, making some exceptions only for activity "intended to benefit the Iranian people", including the export of medical and agricultural equipment, humanitarian assistance and trade in "informational" materials such as films.
Iran insists it is only enriching uranium for power station fuel or other peaceful purposes, and that it would never seek nuclear weapons.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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