Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The foreign energy companies, especially the ones from the energy-hungry Europe are competing for gaining an advantage to develop Iran’s oil and gas fields.

Representatives of the British companies have recently visited Iran’s capital city Tehran with a purpose to receive Iranian government’s consent for their activity in Iran’s energy market.

Amir Hossein Zamaninia, Iran's deputy oil minister for international affairs and trade said after a meeting with the visiting British Minister of State for Trade and Investment Francis Maude in Tehran on November 1 that British energy companies are willing to take part in developing Iranian oil fields and LNG projects, Iranian media reported.

Noting that British companies are very willing to work with Iran in various sectors of the oil industry, the Iranian official said they are interested in long-term cooperation with Iran in the post-sanctions era.

Before imposition of international sanctions against Iran, Shell took part in development of a number of Iranian oil fields, including the offshore Soroush and Norouz fields. According to Iranian media, the company owes Iran €2.3 billion, whose payment has been stalled as a result of sanctions on Iran's energy and financial sectors.

Iran, for its part, cooperated with Britain for the development of a gas field in the North Sea, but due to sanctions, the Islamic Republic has not been able to take advantage of the benefits of its cooperation so far.

The signing of nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries has raised hopes about resumption of economic cooperation between Iran and other countries.

Zamaninia further noted that British companies have accepted to cooperate with Iranian oil industry for technology transfer, mutual investment and joint implementation of projects.

He added that the British companies have special interest in Iran's LNG projects.

A delegation representing British companies will visit Iran in the next two weeks to discuss details of cooperation with Iranian companies, according to report.

“The British side has emphasized on the need to take preliminary measures for cooperation with Iran so that when sanctions are removed, the two countries would be able to sign contracts,” he said.

Zamaninia noted that a seminar on the outlook of offshore projects in Iran has been already held in the Netherlands by two Dutch companies in cooperation with the Iranian embassy in that country.

About 180 representatives from European countries, including the Netherlands, in addition to 40 representatives from Iran took part in the seminar, according to him.

The Iranian minister noted that companies taking part in the seminar posed many questions about the new model of oil contracts that Iran is set to introduce during an international conference in Tehran in February 2016.

Representatives of British Petroleum, OTC, Petrofac and some energy managers are accompanying the British minister on his visit.

Maude said companies traveling with him are planning to make long-term investments in Iran and they need to be assured that there are reliable mechanisms to guarantee their investments.

This is the second British trade delegation to visit Iran in less than a month. The first was headed by the former British ambassador to Tehran, Richard Dalton.

Iran has said it is interested in rebuilding economic relations with other countries and is encouraging foreign investment in its industries and infrastructure.

An increasing number of foreign ministers and trade delegations from other countries have been traveling to Iran since the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 announced a final accord in July, after several months of talks to curb Iran’s nuclear program, in exchange for lifting most international sanctions.

European countries are rushing to resume trade with Iran on the prospect of lifting the sanctions. Tehran has hosted top trade delegations from Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, France and Germany in the past few weeks, preparing multibillion-dollar agreements in economic and energy sectors for the post-sanctions period.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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