Iran Sets June For Shell, Total Deals On Gas Projs - Reports
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Royal Dutch Shell Group PLC (RDSA) must commit itself to developing a $10 billion gas field in Iran by June or risk the project being handed to a rival, The Guardian reported Monday.
Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hussein Nozari has been losing patience with Shell and Total SA (TOT) over deals to develop phases 11 and 13 of the South Pars gas field.
"The deadline we have given to Total and Shell is June and it is the last chance we are giving them," Nozari said, adding that Tehran "will definitely make the final decision" after the deadline.
Shell Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer is expected to meet Nozari on the sidelines of an International Energy Forum meeting in Rome Monday, the Guardian reported.
"The deadline set for Total on developing phase 11 of South Pars will not be extended. It is likely to be replaced by Asian corporations," said Hossein Noghrekar-Shirazi, Iran's oil minister for international affairs, according to the oil ministry's official Shana Web site Sunday.
"Total has little time to conclude a decision and it should decide soon on whether to develop two major gas and oil assets in the Persian Gulf or the project would go ahead without it. Asian companies are the most likely contenders to step in," Shana cited Noghrekar-Shirazi as saying.
Iran, which holds the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia, plans to produce 76 million metric tons a year of liquefied natural gas by 2014, making it one of the largest gas exporters in the world.
However, Iran's LNG projects, like other hydrocarbon schemes in the country, are facing severe delays due to U.S. sanctions imposed on the country over its controversial nuclear energy program and escalating project cost.
Shell, Europe's largest oil and gas company, has delayed making a final decision on the grounds of soaring costs but also in the knowledge that a decisive move would put it in political conflict with Washington at a time of mounting tension over Tehran's uranium enrichment program.