US names Indian oil and gas firms doing biz with Iran

New Delhi, May 14 (PTI) The US administration has named
India's oil and gas flagship ONGC and Indian Oil Corp (IOC)
among the 41 firms worldwide having energy ties with Iran, an
act for which it may impose sanctions on them.
The United States Government Accountability Office this
week released a report 'Firms Reported to Have Commercial
Activity in the Iranian Energy Sector and US Government
Contracts' listing companies who have energy ties with Tehran.
"The Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) provides for sanctions
against persons, including foreign firms, who invest more than
USD 20 million in Iran's energy sector in any 12-month
period," the report said.
Of the 41 firms named in the report, five are Indian.
Besides ONGC and IOC, it names ONGC Videsh Ltd - the overseas
investment arm of the state-run explorer, Oil India Ltd and
Petronet LNG Ltd.
OVL, IOC and OIL explored for oil and gas in Farsi block
and proposed investing USD 5.5 billion in producing gas from
the 21.68 Trillion cubic feet discovery they made in the
offshore block located near the Saudi Arabian border.
Besides, ONGC, OVL, Petronet and Hinduja Group last year
signed agreements with Iran to develop one of the 28 phases of
the giant South Pars gas field and convert the fuel into LNG
for exports at an investment of over USD 10 billion.
The report, which said the US has not imposed sanctions
on any firm for their Iran energy ties since 1998, also names
Hinduja for ties with Iran but lists it as a UK firm.
When contacted, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director and
OVL Chairman RS Sharma declined comments but a senior official
said the Indian firms' business in Iran were in full
compliance with the Government of India policy.
"Whatever we are doing is fully compliant with the
Government of India policy. We have not violated any rule by
investing in Iran.
"In fact, our investment in Iran has not even violated
the US law as OVL-IOC-OIL have not invested more than USD 20
million in any one year in exploring for oil and gas in Farsi
block," the official said.
The USD 20 million barrier will be broken only when Iran
awards them the contract to develop the field or if the
Indians made investment in the South Pars fields. "As of now,
we only have agreements for Farsi and South Pars Phase-12
development and no investment has gone into the ground," he
said.
The US and its allies are aggressively pushing for new
sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme. The Obama
administration is trying to convince foreign firms that it was
becoming too politically risky for them to do business with an
increasingly isolated Iran. PTI ANZ
MRD