WASHINGTON, 29 September — American oil companies are trying to capitalize on Iran’s positive stand in the present war against terrorism to lift sanctions against the country and top officials of US oil giants have held a series of meetings in New York this year to narrow the differences between Washington and Tehran.
The present movement toward Iran is being spearheaded by ExxonMobil, Chevron and Conoco to lift the economic sanctions against Iran or at least reduce the restrictions on American investments in the Islamic country. US Secretary of State Colin Powell has sent a message to the Senate by the end of last month, saying he did not believe the differences with Iran required the cutting of trade relations and dialogue with that country.
It is expected that the campaign of US oil companies might succeed, especially in the wake of the reformist policies adopted by Iranian President Muhammad Khatami and high-level meetings between US and Iranian officials.
Tehran has welcomed foreign investment in the oil and gas sectors. The French company, TotalFinaElf, and a number of Japanese companies have already won contracts in the country. Present US regulations prevent American investment exceeding $20 million in Iran’s oil sector. A survey has showed that 77 percent of Americans wanted to lift US sanctions against Iran.
US President George W. Bush is believed to be studying seriously ways to cancel or soften the sanctions which require a new law to be passed by the Congress.
Many American oil companies have expressed their desire to invest in Iran’s oil projects, especially in Azadijan oil field which has a capacity of 400,000 barrels a day. A Japanese consortium is financing most of the project, valued at $4.2 billion.
The Japanese government is providing all support to their firms to compensate the loss of the Saudi Khafji field to ensure a permanent oil supply source for the country. At present it imports 80 percent of its oil requirements from Middle Eastern countries.
The Japanese consortium has sought the help of Royal Dutch-Shell to develop part of Azadijan field. Iran has oil reserves of 90 billion barrels. Its gas reserves are estimated at 20,000 billion cubic meters, the second or third largest in the world.