oil related 290907

Iran, Pakistan agree over gas sales without India

Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:41pm BST

By Edmund Blair

TEHRAN, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Pakistan has agreed to details of a deal for buying gas from Iran, officials from both sides said on Friday, adding that the proposed tri-nation pipeline would be viable even if India, the third party, walked out.

India stayed away from this week's talks in Tehran on the proposed $7 billion pipeline, saying it wanted to agree transit costs through Pakistan on a bilateral basis first, an Iranian official said. But he said India had not said it was quitting.

"The economics of the project will improve with Indian participation but ... the project is economically viable as a bilateral project also," Mukhtar Ahmed, the energy adviser to Pakistan's prime minister, told reporters in Tehran.

Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, international affairs director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said the three sides had previously planned for gas sales and purchase agreements (GSPAs) to be negotiated separately by India and Pakistan.

"So far, the information formally we have from the authorities of India is that they are willing to join us. They have just their internal problems, including that they need to finalise the transit fee with our good Pakistani friends," Ghanimifard said after talks late on Friday.

Iran's oil minister said on Wednesday his country would still sign a deal with Pakistan if India decided not to join.

Mukhtar said Pakistan and India had agreed in principle how to tackle issues like transportation tariffs and transit fees.

"We don't see transit through Pakistan as a problem. We've had bilateral discussions with India on this subject," he said, although he said more talks were be needed.

Speaking of Pakistan's talks with Iran, Mukhtar said: "We have agreed upon everything that we needed to agree on with regard to the gas sales and purchase agreement and the inter-governmental framework agreement."

He said the details would be drawn up in final documents to be examined at bilateral talks in Islamabad on Oct. 15-19.

Mukhtar did not give details for the price of the gas agreed but said it would be linked to the price of oil. He also they also agreed on a price review clause -- an issue that had been pending -- but he did not elaborate.

In July, Ghanimifard said India and Pakistan had accepted Iran's demand for gas price reviews based on market changes. He denied reports by some Indian newspapers that the pipeline talks had failed after Iran demanded a review every three years.

The pipeline would initially carry 60 million cubic metres of gas daily to Pakistan and India, half for each country. The pipeline's capacity would later rise to 150 million cu metres. Pakistan says it could want 60 million cu metres for itself in the future.

Iran says it has completed 18 percent of the work for the pipeline to bring gas from its South Pars field up to Iran-Pakistan border. Pakistan has yet to begin work on a 1,000 km (625 mile) stretch of the pipeline to link Iran with India.

Iran has the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia. But sanctions, politics and construction delays have slowed its gas development, and analysts say Iran is unlikely to become a major exporter for a decade.

Source: Reuters

Pars LNG project to be done without Total

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran's acting oil minister says Iran can proceed with completing the Pars LNG project even in the absence of French oil company, Total.

Gholamhossein Nozari noted that French President Nicolas Sarkozy should know that if France's Total does not finalize the Pars LNG contract with Iran, Tehran could continue with the project on its own.

The minister termed the main reason for not finalizing the Pars LNG project with Total as Iran's refusal to accept Total's proposed price concerning the project, Fars news agency reported.

""Total has proposed $11.2 billion for investment in Phase 11 of the South Pars project which has been rejected by Iran,"" he added.

Nozari pointed out that Iran can complete its oil and gas projects by domestic firms without seeking the help of foreign companies.

However, he noted that investment in Iran's projects is important for Total because Iran is rich in oil and gas resources.

On the other hand, Total reiterated on Thursday it was still in talks with Iran to carry out a multibillion dollar gas project but added a decision on investment was not in sight, Reuters reported.

""We are still in talks as costs have spiraled,"" a Total spokeswoman said. ""We are not in a position to take a decision on investment now,"" she added.

""We have no date as to when we will finish studying (the costs),"" the spokeswoman said. ""And we don't comment on a minister's comment,"" she added.

Under a deal agreed in 2006, Total is slated to exploit the Phase 11 of Iran's giant South Pars gas field to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export and to build a liquefaction plant.

Source : Teheran Times

Jordan begins receiving Iraqi oil: minister

29-09-07

AMMAN (AFP) — Iraq resumed deliveries of oil to neighbouring Jordan on Friday after a four-year hiatus caused by the US-led invasion in 2003, Jordan's energy ministry announced.

Eight tankerloads were delivered across the border, the first of a consignment expected to reach 100,000 barrels per day under an agreement signed by the neighbours last year.

"Eight tankers of Iraqi oil have begun being emptied into Jordanian tankers ... and will be transported to a refinery in the town of Zarkaa, northeast of Amman," the official Petra news agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying.

Iraq "has informed the Jordanian authorities that 166 tankers have left Kirkuk (northern Iraq) and are on their way to Jordan," he added.

The agreement, signed by the two countries in August 2006, provides for a "gradual increase from 10,000 to 100,000 barrels a day," the spokesman said.

Iraq was to have begun providing 100,000 bpd -- 30 percent of Jordan's daily needs -- at preferential rates last September, but delivery was stalled over technical and security problems on the Iraqi side.

Iraq's Finance Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh said in June the oil would be sold at 18 dollars a barrel below market price.

Jordan was entirely dependent on Iraq for its oil before the toppling of Saddam Hussein, importing 5.5 million tonnes a year by road, half of it gratis and the remainder at preferential rates.

Source: AFP