TOKYO — Iran and Japan have agreed on a deal to develop the world's
largest undeveloped oil field.
The agreement was reached during the current visit by Iranian President
Mohammed Khatami to Tokyo, the highest-ranking visit by an Iranian official
since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Middle East Newsline reported.
The deal struck another blow to efforts by the United States to isolate Teheran until it agrees to end
terrorism and nonconventional weapons programs.
Tokyo has not invested in projects in Iran since 1993 in light of a U.S. law
that sanctions companies that invest more than $40 million in Iran.
Japanese oil firms will now have access to the development of the Azadegan
field, estimated to contain up to six billion barrels of recoverable crude
oil. The field is expected to
produce up 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Iran is Japan's third largest supplier. Japan imports virtually all of
its oil and in February the Tokyo-based Arabian Oil Co Ltd lost a
40-year-old oil concession to develop the Saudi section of the field.
Japanese officials acknowledged that Washington will be unhappy with the
deal. But they said much of their discussions with their Iranian
counterparts focused on proliferation issues.
"The Japanese side stressed the importance to prevent and curb the
proliferation of the systems capable of delivering weapons of mass
destruction," said a statement issued by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro
Mori and Khatami.