Japan to withdraw from Iran oil project: reports

AFP, Tokyo, Sept 30, 2010 – The Japanese government and oil developer Inpex Corp. plan to completely withdraw from Iran’s largest onshore oil field project to avoid possible US sanctions, reports said Thursday.
The move, which may be announced this week, is to prevent government-backed Inpex being included in a list of companies subject to US sanctions against Iran, the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Nikkei reported, citing government sources.
Iran’s Azadegan oilfield, which has some 42 billion barrels of oil, was initially to have been developed with Inpex.
The Japanese company in 2006 significantly lowered its stake from 75 percent to 10 percent over fears of possible sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme.
’There are various risks, as we were asked by Iran to invest more in the project,’ an anonymous government official told the Yomiuri.
Speaking with reporters Thursday morning, Japan’s trade minister Akihiro Ohata said he has been told that Inpex is considering withdrawing from the oil field development project.
’I have heard that it is considering that as a managerial policy,’ Kyodo news reported him as saying.
If the company appears on the list of companies subject to sanctions, it would restrict Inpex’s access to the US market and could affect Japan’s other development programmes in the Middle East and Africa.
Washington and several other nations fear Iran is developing a nuclear arsenal under cover of its energy programme, a charge Tehran denies.
Other Japanese companies are also carefully reviewing their Iran operations.
In August Japanese auto giant Toyota suspended auto exports to Iran indefinitely in line with global sanctions against Tehran.
Earlier this month Japan imposed new sanctions against Iran, including an assets freeze on people and entities linked to its contentious nuclear programme and tighter restrictions on financial transactions.
The steps came a month after Tokyo approved punitive measures in line with a June UN Security Council resolution which slapped a fourth set of sanctions on Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment work.