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Natural gas imports possible for Iran
Bloomberg News via Houston Chronicle
Iran, which has huge natural gas reserves, may become a net importer of energy in 15 or 20 years, Alireza Attar, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, said late last week.
Attar told a World Economic Forum meeting in Istanbul that the country had plans to build 20 nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of 20,000 megawatts to counter the process.
Iran’s economic and population growth meant that the country may become a net importer of energy in “something like 15 to 20 years,” Attar said.
(24 Nov 2006)
Surprise: Oil Woes In Iran
Stanley Reed, Business Week
Flagging output from its vast reserves could diminish Tehran’s influence
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Few countries can match Iran in its ability to generate angst among Westerners. It appears determined to become a nuclear power. Tehran’s Islamic leaders aid radical groups across the Middle East. And as the U.S. gets bogged down in Iraq, Iran’s influence in the region is on the rise, fueled in large part by its vast energy wealth.
Yet Iran has a surprising weakness: Its oil and gas industry, the lifeblood of its economy, is showing serious signs of distress. As domestic energy consumption skyrockets, Iran is struggling to produce enough oil and gas for export. Unless Tehran overhauls its policies, its primary source of revenue and the basis of its geopolitical muscle could start to wane. Within a decade, says Saad Rahim, an analyst at Washington consultancy PFC Energy, “Iran’s net crude exports could fall to zero.”
(30 Nov 2006)
China nearing deal to develop huge Iran field
Gulf Times
China’s Sinopec Group is near to clinching one of its biggest overseas deals, to develop Iran’s giant Yadavaran oilfield, a top Chinese industry official said yesterday.
Yadavaran, in southwest Iran, is expected to produce 300,000 bpd, about the same amount Iran now exports to China. Iran is China’s third largest oil supplier after Saudi Arabia and Angola.
“Both sides have agreed on the technical development plans. Parties also reached consensus over the reserve of Yadavaran,” the official close to the negotiations told Reuters, but declined to give a timeline for signing the pact.
Sinopec Group, China’s second-largest state-run oil and gas firm, and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) would each take 50% of the project with an estimated reserve of 3bn barrels, said the official
(30 Nov 2006)
