Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 2 -- Iran and Inpex Corp. of Japan are continuing negotiations over development of Azadegan oil field despite missing a Sept. 30 deadline to come to an agreement or end talks, according to state media.
"Final negotiations to develop the Azadegan oil field are continuing," said Shana News Agency, which is close to the Iranian oil ministry.
Shana said, "These negotiations between National Iranian Oil Co. officials and representatives of Inpex started on [Sept. 30], the final day of the deadline set to take a definitive decision on Azadegan."
NIOC Managing Director Gholam-Hossein Nowzari said Tehran would not extend the deadline it has specified for Inpex to commence work on the project. "We expect to reach some results today, but we will wrap up everything within the next 2 days," Nowzari said Oct 2.
Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Akira Amari said Sept. 30 that Tokyo hoped to continue talks with Iran beyond the Sept. 30 deadline. To help the oil field project get under way, Amari called on Tehran to abide by a United Nations resolution calling on Iran to halt its nuclear enrichment efforts.
Inpex was granted a concession to develop Azadegan in 2004, but it has not started on the project due to international pressure being exerted over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Inpex also claims that land mines in the area pose a danger and need to be cleared before work can proceed.
Iran has threatened to cancel the Inpex concession if the Japanese firm fails to start by a variety recently specified deadlines, which have been pushed back several times, from the originally set Aug. 22. Work was meant to start on the oil field by March 2005.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
