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Iran, Japan agree to huge oil deal

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, November 3, 2000

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.

Friday, November 3, 2000

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