Statoil withdrawal not announced officially: minister

The Norwegian StatoilHydro company has not officially announced that it would withdraw from activities in an Iranian oil field, Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari said on Saturday.

The minister made the remarks dismissing some recent reports that said the large Norwegian oil exploration and production company has abandoned its activities in Iran’s Azar oil bloc in the western city of Dehloran in Ilam province.

Nozari stressed that media reports “could not be considered as an acceptable basis for the company’s refusal.”
He added that in case of the StatoilDydro’s official refusal, “Iranian experts will continue the task to develop the bloc”.

“We would do what we did in Azadegan field,” Nozari said in a clear reference to the completion of the Azadegan oil project in southwestern Iran by Iranian companies after the withdrawal of the Japanese INPEX company.

The project was handled fully by Iranian experts as the INPEX declined to invest in the huge project under the US pressure and therefore decreased its share in the project to 10 percent from the initial 90 percent.

The Azadegan giant field, one of the world’s largest oil fields with about 26 billion barrels of oil reserves, is situated 62 kms west of Ahvaz in Khuzestan province.

IRNA