Page 47 - IRANRptJul19

9.2 Major corporate news 9.2.1 Oil & gas corporate news
The US has targeted Iran’s petrochemical industry with new sanctions announced by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on June 7.
There have been reports that the US is finding it more difficult to close loopholes in preventing lucrative exports by the Iranian petrochemical industry than it is when it comes to stopping shipments of crude oil from Iran, which since the start of last month it has been attempting to force to zero.
The new sanctions target entities including Iran’s biggest petrochemical holding group, Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC), which the US Treasury Department says supports the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
PGPIC has been added to the sanctions list for providing financial support to the economic arm of the IRGC. The Treasury also designated the holding group’s network of 39 subsidiary petrochemical companies and foreign-based sales agents. PGPIC and its subsidiaries account for 40% of Iran’s petrochemical production capacity. They are also responsible for 50% of Iran’s total petrochemical exports, the Treasury said.
“By targeting this network we intend to deny funding to key elements of Iran’s petrochemical sector that provide support to the IRGC,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
The Treasury statement added that Iran’s oil ministry last year awarded the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya, the IRGC’s economic and engineering arm, 10 projects in oil and petrochemical industries worth $22bn, four times the official budget of the IRGC.
The US in April made the unprecedented move of officially designating the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO). In response, Iran listed the US military’s CENTCOM, which covers operations in the Middle East, as terrorist.
Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh has said that if India is not willing to move ahead with the Farzad B gas field expansion in the Persian Gulf, local firms would happily to take its place, official Iranian energy news agency SHANA has reported.
An Indian consortium led by ONGC Videsh was initially willing to invest up to $11bn to develop what is Iran’s second-biggest gas field and build infrastructure to export its hydrocarbons. However, the return of US sanctions directed at the Islamic Republic and the Indian company’s reluctance to invest for fear of incurring US reprisals has rendered the profitable field partly dormant.
“Although the Indians have not voiced readiness for expanding Farzad B gas field, we intend to do the final negotiations with them, and if they remain reluctant, we will start the job with an Iranian company instead,” Zanganeh said.
“NIOC [National Iranian Oil Co] has prepared a plan for financing the project,” he added: “Other issues including preparing the contract.”
India and Iran have been involved in several failed rounds of discussions over the potential deal for the field in recent years. Latest discussions over Farzad B were initiated well over a year ago, but out of frustration Iran offered the deal to develop the offshore field to Russia’s Gazprom. It remains to be seen whether any agreement will emerge following that offer.
The ONGC Videsh-led Indian consortium eventually made a Farzad B offer to
47 IRAN Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com