Iran suspends oil projects with Russia, Ukraine:Iranian official

TEHRAN,May 14(MNA) - Iran has temporarily suspended an oil project with a Russian company and a similar one with a consortium of Iranian and Ukrainian entities, an Iranian oil official said. Abdolreza Haji Hossein-Nejad said that the projects were aimed to develop four heavy crude oilfields in Bushehr Province, southern Iran. In December 2011, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Russia’s Tatneft Company signed a deal, worth $700 million, in Tehran to develop the Zagheh heavy crude oilfield. The deal was aimed to produce 7,000 barrels per day (bpd) heavy crude from the oilfield in the first phase and boost it to 55,000 bpd in the next phases. Also in February 2012, the Petroleum Engineering and Development Company, an affiliate of the NIOC, and Inter Naft Gas Prom Pars Co. signed a deal, valued at about $800 million, to develop the Kouhmond, Boushkan and Kouhkaki heavy crude oil fields. The projects were suspended because they were not of high priority, Hossein-Nejad stated. Developing joint oil and gas fields is the first priority of the country’s oil industry, he added. By holding 157 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world’s fourth largest reserves of crude oil.