Iran has dismissed a report published by media that it has held meetings with British energy giant BP to hand over two oil projects to the company.
Akbar Ne’matollahi, the public relations director of Iran’s Oil Ministry, said no agreement was made with any company over the development of oilfields in the country.
“The Oil Ministry has been engaged in talks with a large number of companies,” Ne’matollahi said, adding, “However, those talks have led to no agreement over the development of any oilfield. Signing deals over the development of oil and gas fields does not happen easily and requires a time-consuming procedure.”
The Times earlier quoted a BP spokesman who confirmed that the company had held talks with oil industry officials in Iran. “We have said for some time that we would be interested in reviewing opportunities in Iran once sanctions permit it,” Toby Odone, the deputy head of BP press office said. He added the company was “fully in compliance with the current sanction regimes in place.”
According to reports, BP sent commercial and technical managers to Iran in September on a fact-finding mission. BP CEO Bob Dudley also acknowledged that the company was “very much” interested in having a business relation with the Middle Eastern nation.
On October 7, an informed source told the Tasnim News Agency on the condition of anonymity that Iran has left the development of two oilfields to BP.