Page 10 - MEOG Week 21 2021

MEOG POLICY MEOG

Iran agrees stop gap

extension of UN inspections

IRAN IRAN and the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the possible future difficulty is that the agreement
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), does not give the UN experts guaranteed access
have agreed a one-month “stop gap” extension to the data after the June 24 expiry, by which time
of limited UN inspections of Iran’s nuclear devel- Iran will have elected a new president.
opment programme activities. But if Iran and the US can find a way to restore
The agreement, lasting until 24 June, was the nuclear deal then the IAEA will almost cer-
announced on May 24, one day after the speaker tainly be granted the access to the video record-
of the Iranian parliament, Mohammed Bagher ings, including on Iran’s levels of uranium
Ghalibaf, raised anxieties by saying that the pre- enrichment.
vious three-month agreement had expired and The JCPOA is designed to ensure that Iran
indicating that it might not be replaced. A bar keeps its nuclear programme verifiably entirely
on UN inspections might endanger efforts under civilian in return for a pledge that its econ-
way at talks in Vienna to find a path on which omy will not be targeted with major economic
both Iran and the US can return to full compli- sanctions.
ance with the nuclear deal, or JCPOA. Without Iran’s chief negotiator in the nuclear deal talks,
an allowance for inspections, the JCPOA might Abbas Araghchi, spent four hours in front of the
be regarded as beyond recovery. national security commission of Iran’s parlia-
Rafael Grossi, the IAEA director general, said ment on May 23 outlining the foreign ministry’s
the new extension meant his inspectors would negotiating position and the status of the talks.
not be “flying blind”. Fuller access might be “Very tough, but useful,” was how he char-
achieved in the future, he said. acterised the discussion on May 26 in a tweet,
The deal states that data filmed by IAEA adding: “The bottom line is, having left the
inspectors inside Iran’s nuclear plants over the JCPOA, the US must first provide verifiable
past three months will not be destroyed, while sanctions lifting. Iran will then resume full
filming can continue for a further month. One implementation.”™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES

Iran drills 17 new oil and

gas rigs in 2 months

IRAN NATIONAL Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) He added 15 of the mentioned wells, includ-
completed digging operations of 17 new oil and ing four development and 11 workover wells
gas wells during the first two months of the cur- were drilled in the operational zone of the
rent Persian calendar year (March 21–May 21), National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC).
it announced on May 23. They drilled two other wells in the fields
Iran is gearing up its oil and gas industry for under the supervision of the Iranian Offshore
a potential boost in exports as its negotiations in Oil Company (IOOC).
Vienna slowly but surely come to an agreement NIDC owns 70 light, heavy and super-heavy
with the US on a resumption of the Joint Com- drilling rigs, 67 onshore drilling rigs and three
prehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or known as offshore rigs, Zanganeh said.
the Iranian nuclear deal. If the two sides come “At the moment, 25 drilling rigs of the firm
to an agreement, foreign investment and exports are being relocated in the onshore operational
could see a third massive expansion of the indus- areas of the state”, the official added.
try in the country. NIDC managed to carry out 10,182 meters of
According to Babak Zanganeh, Director of horizontal and directional drilling in 43 oil and
planning at NIDC, the drilled wells comprised gas wells across the country during the previous
four development and appraisal wells, and 13 Iranian calendar year, its latest statistics released
workover sites. stated.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 21 26•May•2021