December 27, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 16, 1428

TEHRAN, Dec 26: Iran signed a multi-billion dollar deal with Malaysia on Wednesday to develop two offshore Iranian gas fields, boasting that the planned investment was the biggest ever in the country.

The mega deal comes in defiance of US pressure on European and Asian firms to reduce their business with Iran’s oil and gas industries, which are in urgent need of foreign investment.

Iran’s Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) and Malaysia’s SKS signed the $6 billion final contract for development of Golshan and Ferdos gas fields at a ceremony in Tehran, state television showed.

“The estimate for the investment for both the upstream and (gas) sweetening sectors of the project is about $6bn,” Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said.

He described the deal as the “biggest investment in the country” and said his administration would now focus on Asian companies as opposed to Europeans which were once Iran’s top energy partners.

“The Iranian oil ministry’s emphasis is towards Asian companies,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.

Iran also earlier this month closed a $2 billion deal with China’s Sinopec to develop the Yadavaran oil field.

The country is in urgent need of investment to develop its gas fields both to cover domestic consumption and fulfil its ambitious export plans for Europe and eastern Asia.

The Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell and France’s Total have been delaying finalisation of multi-billion-dollar deals with Iran, which has repeatedly said it would not wait for foreign companies to start energy projects.

Mr Nozari pointed to joint projects with Malaysia including construction of refineries in Shiraz as well as with other prominent Non-Aligned Movement states Syria and Venezuela.

The buyback-based project with SKS would be completed in about five and a half years, he said.

Iran and Malaysia had in January signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the upstream, downstream and LNG transportation sectors for the two gas fields.

Mr Nozari said the full agreement would be worth $16 billion when the final contract was signed on the LNG phase.

“The liquefaction sector, the LNG, whose contract will soon be ready to sign, would be worth about $10 billion,” he said.

Based on the initial agreement, SKS and National Iranian Oil Company will each receive 10 million tons of LNG per year. The original LNG agreement is for 25 years.—AFP