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http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?ArchiveNews=Yes&NewsCode=39168&NewsKind=CurrentAffairs
Japan to start developing Iranian oilfield

LONDON, December 29 (IranMania) - Japan will start to develop a massive oilfield in Iran next year despite opposition from the
United States about the investment in the Islamic republic, a report said Thursday, according to AFP.

Japan signed a two-billion-dollar deal with Tehran in February 2004 to develop the massive Azadegan oilfield in southwestern Iran to
try to ensure stable oil supplies for the resource-poor Asian nation.

Inpex, the Japanese oil firm which acquired the development rights, plans to start work in early 2006, the Asahi Shimbun daily
reported, quoting unnamed Inpex officials.

Production is expected to start in 2008, a year later than initially scheduled, the report said.

Washington has repeatedly objected to Tokyo about the project, keeping the Japanese government, the largest shareholder in Inpex,
prudent over when work should begin.

"Inpex may lose its (development) rights if it fails to start the project soon," an Inpex official was quoted as saying in the
report.

European and Chinese firms are also interested in acquiring shares in the Iranian oil development, it noted.

Inpex officials were not immediately available.

The company already has begun preparing for constructing drilling and other facilities with an environmental assessment approved in
July, the report said.

"The government should handle the oil development issue separately from the nuclear allegation," an Inpex official said in the
report, referring to US concerns that Tehran is acquiring the technology for a nuclear weapons program.

Ever since the 1973 oil crisis, Japan, which imports nearly all of its oil needs, has developed its own diplomacy with key oil
producers in the Middle East, often putting it at odds with the United States, especially over Iran.

Initial production in the field is seen at 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) within 40 months, rising to 150,000 bpd after 52 months and
260,000 bpd in eight years.



Half of Rhum gas field in UK belongs to Iran

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?ArchiveNews=Yes&NewsCode=39084&NewsKind=CurrentAffairs

LONDON, December 25 (IranMania) - Iran and the United Kingdom have already started a joint venture project in the largest offshore
gas field of Rhum in the North Sea for production and export of gas, deputy minister of Oil in International Affairs Seyyed Hadi
Nejad-Hosseinian said.

According to MNA, the NIOC (National Iranian Oil Company) holds 50% of the share in this 350 mlnpounds venture and it is expected
that by drilling two new wells the production to increase by 170 mlncubic ft. from the current 130.

Moreover, the methods used in this project by the assistance of Iranian experts are of considerable technical complexities due to
high pressure and temperature of the field.

Rhum Gas Field, discovered in 1977, is 109 meters deep below the sea and is located 240 miles offshore from northeast of Aberdeen.



Jan Rasmussen