Iran suspends Italy’s Edison oil project

TEHRAN,July 8(MNA) - National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has suspended a contract with Italy’s Edison due to its repeated delays and non-commitment to its contractual obligations. Edison signed six years ago a $107 million contract with NIOC to help develop the Dayyer offshore block. But, NIOC announced that it annulled the deal with the Italian firm due to delays in its work. Iran has already taken the same decision about other large energy firms, including Total and Royal Dutch Shell, as well as Norway's Statoil, Italy's ENI and Inpex Corp of Japan. On January 23, EU foreign ministers approved new sanctions against Tehran that prohibited member states from buying Iranian crude. The sanctions went into effect on June 30. Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi shrugged off the U.S.-engineered EU embargoes on the Iranian oil sector, saying that the Islamic Republic is completely prepared to counter the sanctions. “Iran's oil has its own markets. To counter the sanctions, all potential options have been worked out by the government,” Qasemi said on July 1.