Iran's Interior Minister Ali Kordan said Sunday the agreement to export natural gas to Sharjah-based Crescent Petroleum is not in the country's national interest, the Iran Daily newspaper reported Monday.
Kordan, who is chairman of National Iranian Gas Export Co.'s board of directors, said the Crescent deal was signed at the end of the previous government's tenure without taking the Islamic republic's rights into consideration, according to Iran Daily.
"What is evident from the contents of the contract is that (it) does not serve Iran's national interest. Talks are currently under way to proceed with the contract within the framework of what national interest demands," Kordan said, according to the daily.
The interior minister added the contract was on NIGEC's agenda before he was appointed chairman of the company's board of directors, Iran Daily said.
"When I took over as chairman, I ordered all negotiations take place in Tehran, not Dubai," Iran Daily cited Kordan as saying.
Kordan, a former deputy oil minister, said Iran's Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari had asked him to take charge of the Crescent project at the same time that he became head of the interior ministry, reported Iran Daily.
"The Crescent contract has been a topic of discussion in Iran's energy sector for almost 12 years," Iran Daily cited Kordan as saying.
Oil Minister Nozari also said Sunday that if an agreement on a gas sales price that is in Iran's national interests is not being reached, the country will divert the gas to Assaluyeh for domestic use.
"The main purpose for holding new talks is amending the contract so that the price at which Iran's gas is sold will serve our national interest," Nozari said, according to Iran Daily.
Iranian officials are expected to hold a meeting Monday to decide on whether to finalize the Islamic Republic's contract with Crescent.
Crescent owns 21% of Sharjah-based Dana Gas, which is contracted to sell the gas. Dana Gas was listed on the Abu Dhabi bourse in December 2005 on the basis of the gas export project with Iran.