US: Five Asian Oil Companies Collaborate with Iran's Energy Sector

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its annual report named three Indian state-owned companies and two Chinese companies that have collaborated with Iran's energy sector. The Indian news agency PTI reported on Sunday, March 8, that the GAO stated that the three companies 'Oil and Natural Gas Corporation', 'Indian Oil', and 'Oil India' from India, along with two Chinese companies 'CNPC' and 'Sinopec', were engaged in commercial activities in Iran's energy sector from November 8, 2013, to December 1, 2014. The news agency added that the US report may blacklist these companies. The agency's reference is to a 21-page report published on its official website, which states that the decision to blacklist the mentioned companies rests with the US Department of State, and this agency does not intend to make a decision in this regard. The 'Iran Sanctions Act' allows the US government to take action against foreign individuals or companies that invest more than $20 million in Iran's energy sector at any given time. These three Indian companies are mentioned in the report due to their investment in the 'Persian Coastal Block' in Iran. The GAO in its last year's report only mentioned 'Oil and Natural Gas Corporation' and 'Oil India' due to 'lack of sufficient information' and removed 'Indian Oil' from its annual report. However, this year, the GAO announced that the annual report of 'Indian Oil' for 2013-14 indicates that this company had a 40% stake in the Persian Block project. The National Iranian Oil Company signed a contract for activities in the Persian Block, which is said to have oil reserves of about 1 billion barrels and gas reserves of about 600 billion cubic meters, in 2002 with a consortium of Indian companies including Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Indian Oil, and Oil India. The GAO cited the annual report of 'Oil and Natural Gas Corporation' to mention this company's 40% share in the Persian Block and also referenced 'Oil India's' annual report indicating its 20% share in the block. All three Indian companies provided a similar response to the GAO report, stating that 'the exploration contract for the Persian Block ended in 2009, and they had no activities in the Persian Block after 2007.' According to Fars news agency's report in 2012, by this date, the Indians had not agreed to invest in extracting reserves from the Persian Block, including the Farzad gas field. Based on initial negotiations, the Indian consortium was willing to invest $5.5 billion in the Persian Block, including the 'Farzad B' gas field. This block is located near Iranian waters with Saudi Arabia. The new GAO report, unlike previous years, has removed 'OVL', the foreign investment branch of India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, from its list. The Indian news agency writes that this company 'after realizing that its name was mentioned in three consecutive GAO reports between 2010 and 2012 as a company operating in Iran, no longer included the Persian Block in its annual report.' In its new report, the GAO also removed the names of 'Petronet' and 'Ashok Leyland Project Services' from this list, stating that 'there was no credible source report confirming that these companies were engaged in commercial activities in Iran.' These two companies had signed contracts with Iran in 2009 for the development of phase 28 of the massive South Pars gas field and its conversion to liquefied gas for export, valued at $10 billion, but this project never commenced. The GAO's latest report stated: 'None of these five companies (Indian and Chinese) reported from November 8, 2013, to December 1, 2014, had contracts with the US government.'