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Shared fields are still top priority for doing little

Qasemi did not say what would make his pledge any less hollow than those of his predecessors.

Shared fields have long been a political issue in Iran because of the widespeard concern that foreigners will suck those fields dry nefore Iran can begin pumping from.

The main approach Iran has used to prevent that has been to try to stop neiughbors from exoploting shared fields. A few years ago, Iran went to fare as to occupy a small slice if Iraq to stop pumping from an oilwell that was just a few hundred meters inside Iraq.

It has also refused for decades to negotiate the maritime border with Kuwait. Kuwait has sought since the end of he IranpIraq war in 1988 to exploit the Dorra gasfield under the Pesrian Gulf that is shared by Kuwait, Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis agreed on the maritime border almost two decdes ago, but the Islamic Republic has just dragged its feet.

Since the 1990s, Oil Ministry officials have often spopken of the need to prioritize the development of shared fields, expressing something of a use-it-or-lose-it fear. But despite all the motivation to do something, little has been done beyond the heavy prioroity on the South pars gasfield, which is shared withj water, which is far ahead of Iran in developing the explotinmg the field.

Last November, for example, the Oil Ministry said it would make decisions on the development of all the many shared fields by Now Ruz. Now Ruz came and went five months ago and nothing has been announced.

In May of last year, the then-newly named managing director of the state oil company, Ahmad Qalebani, said that developing oilfields shared with neighbors was one of his priorities—and that is what almost all of his predecessors also said.

Hamid-Reza Katouzian, chairman of the Majlis Energy Committee, said Iran has done hardly anything to develop shared fields for a third of a century and is shooting itself in the foot by such sluggishness.

Deputy Oil Minister Mohsen Khojastemehr said last year that to complete the development of those fields within the next five years would take $50 billion. He didn’t say where that money would come from, raising doubts about the ability to develop the fields.

Khojastemehr said the government had decided to fast-track the decision-making process and would not sit for lengthy negotiations with foreign oil firms. That implies Iran wanted to exploit the fields on its own without looking for foreign investors.

But he also said talks were underway with foreign as well as domestic firms for the development of the first such oilfield, Azar, which is shared with Iraq. It was previously announced that Azar would require $1.4 billion to develop with production of 20,000 barrels a day.

Deputy Katouzian said the problems with wrong policies and practices in the oil industry goes back to 1977, even before the revolution.

He blamed inadequate investment, wrong policies and poor decisions for slow progress throughout the oil sector.

“Unfortunately, sometimes decisions are made without taking the national interests into consideration and lead to permanent harm to the country,” he was reported by the Tehran Times as saying.

“If we compare the rate of development of Iran’s joint oil fields with other Persian Gulf regional states, we see that from 1977 onwards very little progress has been made in Iran’s part of the joint fields.”

He cited Iraq’s aggressive initiative to bring in foreign firms to develop Iraqi oilfields, including those shared with Iran, and said this will not only “undermine our position in the world energy market, but also reduce Iran’s influence in international diplomacy,” a direct critique of President Ahmadi-nejad’s claims to have made Iran a major world power.

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