Oil & Gas Journal - Iran accused of using oil project to manipulate Japan

LOS ANGELES, May 22 -- The US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Iran is seeking to use its oil and gas reserves to manipulate Japan, and he questioned Tokyo's decision to help develop Iran's Azadegan oil field.
"This is what we've been worried about, about Iran's very savvy use of its oil and natural gas resources to apply leverage on countries like Japan and India and China that have large and growing energy demands," Bolton told Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper in an interview.
"Iran is very cynically using the reliance of Japan on Iran for oil—the possibility of the Azadegan oil field and other things—to try to back Japan away from its very principled commitment to nonproliferation," Bolton said.
Although he did not call on Japan to abandon its deal with Iran over Azadegan development, he question the wisdom of undertaking it.
"When you're looking at a country ruled by a man like [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, who threatens to wipe Israel off the map and who is pursuing nuclear weapons, it is just good due diligence to say, 'Is this a country we want to invest in?'" Bolton said.
The US, the UK, and France seek a UN Security Council resolution that could lead to economic sanctions if Iran continues to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel. The other permanent members, Russia and China, oppose the draft resolution.
Japan, which relies on Iran for about 15% of its crude oil imports, has offered tepid support to the proposed resolution.
Iranian warningOn May 17, Iran's ambassador in Tokyo warned Japan against backing a push for sanctions.
Mohsen Talaei also expressed hope that Japan, as chair of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors, would help bring the Iranian nuclear issue back to IAEA from the Security Council.
Asked how Iran would react if Japan joined the US in sanctions, Talaei told a news conference in Tokyo that he believed the move would result in "an action against Japan."
Talaei also said that the Azadegan project was "the most important part of (the) energy security of Japan for the future" and that Japanese sanctions would hurt Tokyo more than Tehran.
In February 2004, Japan and Iran signed a basic development agreement for South Azadegan field, with the project to be led by a Japanese consortium of Inpex, Tomen, and Japex (OGJ Online, Mar. 25, 2004).
Naftiran Intertrade Co. Ltd. (NICO), which earlier split supergiant Azadegan field into north and south projects, was given 30% of South Azadegan.
Inpex and NICO would become contractors to National Iranian Oil Co. to develop the field. They are reported to have agreed to invest a total of $2 billion, with the Inpex group contributing 75% and NICO 25%.
However, the US government soon began exerting pressure on foreign companies being wooed by Iran to help with oil and gas development (OGJ, Sept. 20, 2004, p. 23).
Contact Eric Watkins at hippalus@yahoo.com.