Tehran Times, Iran
April 26 2004
Iran to Launch 3 LNG Projects
TEHRAN (PIN) — Iran is determined to launch three big liquefied
natural gas (LNG) projects, Minister of Oil Bijan Namdar Zanganeh
said Sunday. “One project will be handled by French Total and
Malaysian Petronas to produce 10 million tons of LNG. The second
project goes to British Shell while the third one will be implemented
inside the country,” Zanganeh told reporters on the sidelines of a
conference on gas exports being held in Tehran.
“At moment, we can allow up to 49 percent of foreign investment and
welcome foreign companies to help us launch LNG projects,” the
minister said.
Deputy Oil Minister Mehdi Mirmoezi said Iran has decided to award
French oil giant Total a 1.2 billion dollar contract to develop phase
11 of the massive South Pars offshore gas field. “Total has been
chosen to develop phase 11 of South Pars,” he said. “The final
negotiations are in progress, and unless there is a problem, the
contract will be signed in one or two months.” Zanganeh also said
that Iran has already signed an oil exports deal with a company from
the United Arab Emirates. “We are negotiating with Kuwait and our
talks are going on with Armenia for gas exports.”
Regarding oil prices, he said that he believed an oil price hovering
around 28 dollars per barrel would be a “good price” for the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
“I consider that 28 dollars a barrel is a good price for OPEC, or one
or two dollars more or less,” the minister told reporters.
“The objective should be to maintain the price of a barrel in the
upper part of the 22 to 28 dollar bracket,” said the minister.
Iran is OPEC’s second exporter. OPEC ministers agreed in March to
press ahead with an output cut of four percent from April 1,
dismaying importers such as the United States. But Zanganeh blamed
the high prices on “refining problems in the United States and the
political tensions in the Middle East, and OPEC can do nothing to
solve these two problems.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress