Iran, Japan to finalise Azadegan oil deal by Aug 22
Xinhua, Tehran
Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh has said that Iran and Japan will finalize their long-delayed deal to develop the giant Azadegan oilfield by Aug. 22."Iran and Japan have agreed to develop the Azadegan oilfield," Hamaneh was quoted as saying Friday in an interview with the Mehr news agency. He said that if no new problems occurred, Iran and Japan's oil giant Inpex would finalize the agreement by the end of Mordad, or the fifth month of Iran's local calendar which ends on Aug 22. In February 2004, Japan and Iran signed a deal on the major Azadegan project, giving Japan the largest oilfield it has ever independently developed. The oilfield in Azadegan in southwestern Iran is one of the world's largest, believed to contain 26 billion barrels of crude oil. Under the 2004 agreement, Inpex would be would be granted rights to develop the oilfield, which is close to Iran's border with Iraq. The two sides agreed to invest 2 billion US dollars, with Inpex 75 percent and the Iranian side 25 percent. They planed to produce up to 150,000 barrels per day by mid-2008 and raise the output level to 260,000 bpd by early 2012. Japan would import two thirds of the output.
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