Iran Won't Cut Oil Exports if Syria Attacked
by Hashem Kalantari and Sally Jones,
Dow Jones Dow Jones Newswires
July 27, 2006
Iran has no intention of halting crude oil exports due to the current crisis in the Middle East, its oil minister said Thursday.
Speaking to reporters, Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh, said his country won't use oil as a weapon because of the current situation between Lebanon and Israel.
He also said the Islamic republic wouldn't cut crude exports in reaction to a possible attack by Israel on Syria.
"No, why should we directly link political issues to oil exports. We don't establish such links, political issues should be resolved politically," Vaziri said.
As fighting continues between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, the U.S. is accusing Iran and Syria of being Hezbollah's main sponsors. Speculation is rife that both Iran and Syria could get drawn into the crisis.
Vaziri also reiterated that Iran won't impose an oil embargo if the U.N. Security Council takes a tough stance over the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions...cont'd
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Iran and Japan Agree on Finalizing Oil Project
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)
Friday, July 28, 2006
Iran and Japan have agreed to finalize an oil project in Iran's southern Azadegan oilfields, Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh told the Mehr news agency Friday.
"If no new problems occur, the agreement letter will be finalized by the end of the current (Persian) month (August 22)," the minister said.
Iran and Japan signed the US$2-billion deal in October 2004. Related Products
It includes developing parts of the Azadegan oil fields in the Gulf but delayed its implementation in view of ambiguous nuclear plans.
"Japan is very interested to continue cooperation with Iran in the Azadegan project, and we will sign a new agreement," the minister added...cont'd
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Persian Gulf Reserves
It has been common knowledge for many years that the Middle East is home to the world's largest resource base of oil. With over 700 billion barrels of reserves, the Persian Gulf states of Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE hold nearly 60% of the world's conventional oil. Between them, these countries pump close to one third of the oil produced in the world each day.
In addition to crude oil, the Persian Gulf states also hold about 40% of the world's conventional natural gas reserves with more than 2,500 tcf. With the massive amount of energy resources concentrated in these few countries, it is easy to see why they are so important to the entire world and why the world watches intently when conflicts brew in the Middle East.
Iranian Oil and Gas
Iran currently has the world's third largest proved oil reserves with 133 billion barrels, which is about half the reserves of the world leader, Saudi Arabia. Iranian oil reserves represents about 10% of all the oil in the world, a huge proportion for a country with less than 1% of the world's population.
As such, Iran is a major exporter of crude oil. Each day, the country produces just under 4 million barrels of oil. But, with consumption of just about 1.5 million bpd, Iran has the ability to export 2.5 million barrels of oil each day. This makes Iran the world's fourth largest oil producer and the world's 5th largest oil exporter.
In addition to oil, Iran also has the world's second largest natural gas reserves, with about 940 trillion cubic feet of gas. These reserves, which account for about 15% of the world's conventional natural gas, are largely concentrated in the offshore South Pars field. This one field alone contains as much as 500 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.
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