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Four major energy companies are pulling out of Iran in order to comply with US
sanctions, the state department says.
Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Statoil and Italy ENI will now avoid US penalties
targeting companies which do business with Iran.
Naftiran Intertrade Co, based in Switzerland, will face new sanctions .
The US has tightened sanctions on Iran over concerns about its nuclear
ambitions, which Washington fears are aimed at acquiring atomic weapons.
Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes.
'Conduit for cash'
Recent legislation gives the US administration the power to penalise foreign
companies which invest more than $20m ($12.7m) in Iran's energy sector.
However, companies taking steps to comply with the law are exempted from
penalties.
"People are increasingly reaching the conclusion that it's simply not worth it
to engage in activities with Iran," Deputy US Secretary of State James
Steinberg was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
Other energy companies are under investigation for possibly breaching
sanctions, but the state department has declined to name them.
Mr Steinberg described Naftiran - a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil
Company - as a key conduit for cash into the Iranian oil industry.
In practice, US companies are already prohibited from doing most forms of
business with Naftiran. But US officials say the extra sanctions will dissuade
non-US companies from doing business with it.
This latest announcement comes a day after the US froze the US assets of eight
senior Iranian officials accused of serious human rights abuses following the
disputed presidential election in June 2009. They will also barred from
travelling to the US and from doing business with companies there.
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Posted: 2010750@246.80
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stranger
European oil firms resist U.S. pressure to quit Iran
By Wojciech Moskwa Wojciech Moskwa Fri Oct 1, 1:28 pm ET
OSLO (Reuters) European oil majors resisted pressure from the United States
on Friday to stop doing business with Iran, in spite of Washington's drive to
isolate Tehran over a nuclear program the West suspects is aimed at making
bombs.
Total said it was still buying Iranian crude as it was not illegal under new
U.N. sanctions, Statoil said it was providing Iran with technical assistance
and ENI said it would exit Iran only when existing deals expire.
The United States had said on Thursday that all three, as well as Royal Dutch
Shell, would abandon their Iranian activities voluntarily to avoid U.S.
sanctions which can target foreign firms that do business with the Islamic
state.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said on Thursday the companies
"have provided assurances to us" that they have stopped or are in process of
stopping activity in Iran and would not undertake new deals that may be
sanctionable.
Iran sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia and
one of its largest proven reserves of oil, but Western energy companies have
halted or scaled down their operations in the country due to the escalating
nuclear dispute.
Tougher sanctions on Iran in recent months have raised the stakes for
international oil firms while "also increasing the sense that the worsening of
Iran's operational environment is irreversible", the IHS Global Insight
consultancy said.
The former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's inspections worldwide said Iran
was making "slow but steady" progress on its nuclear program and he believed
there was still time to find a diplomatic solution to the standoff.
"They are making progress, but I think there is still time for a negotiated
solution," Olli Heinonen, who quit in August and now teaches at Harvard
University, told Reuters.
NUCLEAR CURB
Major powers hope new U.N., U.S. and European sanctions, imposed on Iran since
June, will persuade it to enter serious negotiations on curbing its nuclear
development.
Iran has repeatedly ruled out stopping nuclear enrichment and dismissed the
impact of punitive measures, while leaving the door open for talks which may
resume soon.
In a move partly intended to make it less vulnerable to sanctions, Iran plans
to cut hefty food and fuel subsidies and a government official said in Tehran
on Friday that gasoline prices will rise sharply in the coming weeks.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to phase out $100 billion of subsidies, a
policy economists say is a necessary but politically risky step.
In Tokyo, Trade Minister Akihiro Ohata said Japan's top oil explorer Inpex Corp
may pull out of an oilfield project in Iran, a move that would see it join
other global energy firms shunning the country.
A Total spokeswoman said the latest European sanctions "will keep to a minimum
our activities" in Iran. But she said Total had not cut back its activities in
the country since it said earlier this year it would halt the sale of refined
products.
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.
(Additional reporting by Lionel Laurent in Paris and by Robin Pomeroy in
Tehran; Writing and additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Editing by
Louise Ireland)