TEHRAN, Nov 8: French oil giant Total and Norway’s state-run oil firm Statoil have joined talks for contracts to develop Iran’s massive Azadegan oil field, the state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday.

An official from the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Development Company, Ali-Akbar Vahidi Al-Aqa, told the news agency that talks with the two firms were already underway — confirming that Japan no longer has exclusive negotiating rights.

The official said Royal Dutch/ Shell and Italy’s ENI had also been invited to enter talks on the field, considered to be Iran’s most important with estimated reserves of 26 billion barrels, but had both refused. Tehran had offered preferential rights to a Japanese consortium during President Mohammad Khatami’s visit to Japan in 2000.

Japan and Iran agreed in 2000 to start negotiations over the field, but Iranian officials warned that a period of exclusive signing privileges for the Japanese consortium expired at the end of June and other companies could now be considered.

Washington has been trying to persuade Tokyo to drop the investment due to concerns over Tehran’s nuclear programme.—AFP