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Oil majors tell U.S. still have some Iran dealings

01 October 2010 23:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. European oil majors resisted pressure from the United States to abandon all Iranian activities, saying they would continue buying Iranian crude and exit the country only upon expiry of existing contracts, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
France’s Total said it was still buying Iranian crude and Royal Dutch Shell said it was not illegal to lift Iranian crude under the latest United Nations sanctions.
Norway’s Statoil said it was providing Tehran with technical assistance while Italy’s ENI said it would exit Iran only when existing deals expire.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said on Thursday Total, Statoil, ENI and Royal Dutch Shell will suspend all dealings with Iran voluntarily to avoid American sanctions designed to pressure Iran over its nuclear program.
Western powers seek to bring Tehran into new talks on an atomic program they fear is aimed at producing nuclear weapons.
Iran, which has resisted pressure to open wide-ranging talks, says its nuclear program is peaceful and that while it is open to talks, it will never give up its right to peaceful nuclear energy.
The U.N. Security Council’s five permanent members, the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, are working with Germany to draw Iran back into negotiations that collapsed last year. But progress has been slow and U.S. officials describe sanctions as a way to pressure Tehran to talk.
CRUDE IS STILL LEGAL
Steinberg said the deal with European majors set a precedent that other firms should follow but the majors said on Friday the deal was not that straightforward.
"The group (Total) is in line with the relevant legislation, on an international and European basis as well as national. The recent European sanctions will keep to a minimum our activities in the country, where already we were not very present" a Total spokeswoman said.
"Today we have no operations in Iran apart from the purchase of crude oil, which today is considered licit."
She said Total had not cut back its dealings in Iran since saying earlier this year it would halt the sale of oil products.
Total "answered fully" the questions asked by the U.S. State Department on its Iranian operations, she said.
She would not say whether the State Department had given orders or suggestions in addition to the questions.
"We are monitoring the evolution of the legal situation."
Statoil said it would conclude work in Iran by 2012 at the latest but was still providing technical assistance after finishing development of three phases of the South Pars natural gas project last year.
"Already in 2008 we said that we would not make further investments in Iran," spokesman Baard Glad Pedersen said.
Shell said it was complying with all legislation while declining to comment on its trading activities. Traders say it is still involved in Iranian crude purchases. "As you know, it is not illegal to lift oil from Iran," a Shell spokesman said.