Page 9 - MEOG Week 05 2021

MEOG POLICY MEOG

Iran criticises France over

Saudi meddling in JCPOA

IRAN IRANIAN Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Pointing to the US withdrawal from the
Khatibzadeh has criticised a statement of French nuclear deal and Europe’s inability to support it,
President Emmanuel Macron about the need to the Iranian spokesperson added renegotiating it
conclude a new nuclear agreement with Tehran would be near impossible.
in which Saudi Arabia will participate, Tasnim “If there is any desire to revive and save the
reported on January 30. JCPOA, then the solution is simple. The United
Iran deeply distrusts renegotiating the 2015 States should return to the JCPOA and lift all
nuclear deal with the addition of other regional the sanctions that were imposed (against Iran)
players including Saudi Arabia and Israel. during the term of the previous president of that
Tehran believes allowing its two arch enemies country (the United States), as well as sanctions
into the flagging deal would potentially put fur- not related to the JCPOA.”
ther roadblocks to finally getting the US to enter He said: “If French officials are concerned
back into compliance. about large arms sales to the Arab states of the
In a statement released, Said Khatibzadeh Persian Gulf, they had better reconsider their
responded to recent statements by the French policies.”
president, urging Emmanuel Macron to refrain “French weapons, along with other Western
from “hasty and ill-considered positions.” weapons, not only killed thousands of Yemenis,
“The JCPOA is a multilateral international but are also the main cause of instability in the
agreement that was approved and agreed by Gulf region … Without stopping the flow of arms
Security Council (UN) Resolution 2231. It is not exports from France, Great Britain, the US and
subject to revision, and its sides are also definite other countries, stability and tranquillity cannot
and unchanged,” he said. be expected in this a delicate region,” he said.™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES

Iran kicks off phase

one production at Azar

IRAN IRAN’S Oil Industries Engineering and Con- “domestic companies took over the development
struction Co. (OIEC) this week announced that of the field, and both financing and implemen-
it has achieved full production capacity at the tation were successfully done by capable Iranian
Azar oilfield following delays in its completion. companies.”
Following several updates in recent months In early January, he said that to date, total
from OIEC, phase one appears to have been investment in Azar had reached $1.72bn from
stuck at 97% completion. the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) and a con-
In the announcement, the company’s man- sortium of OIEC and Ahdaf Finance Co. since
aging director, Gholamreza Manouchehri, said they took control of the asset in September 2011.
that production had reached the first phase’s Meanwhile, in October 2020, Petroleum
target level of 65,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Engineering and Development Co.’s (PEDEC)
oil despite the project remaining 97% complete, manager for Azar, Keyvan Yarahmadi, said that
noting that it would be inaugurated ‘soon’. cumulative output from Azar had reached more
He said that issues with the asset’s geology than 30mn barrels, adding that completion
“had made the development of this field very would follow shortly, at which point the asset
difficult, and international companies that had will be fully operational. PEDEC oversees the
previously done the exploration work in this development of the field on behalf of the project
field believed that only they would be able to partners.
develop this field.” With all the talk of completing phase one, it
However, Manouchehri added: is worth noting that production began at Azar

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