Reuters: Iran’s state oil firm and Vietnamese oil group Petrovietnam signed a $115 million deal for the exploration of the Islamic state’s southwestern Danan oilfield on Wednesday, the official IRNA news agency said. TEHRAN, March 12 (Reuters) – Iran’s state oil firm and Vietnamese oil group Petrovietnam signed a $115 million deal for the exploration of the Islamic state’s southwestern Danan oilfield on Wednesday, the official IRNA news agency said.
While Western firms become more wary of investing in Iran because of a nuclear row with the West that has led to three sets of U.N. sanctions, energy-hungry Asian countries and companies have proved less sensitive.
Iran, the world’s fourth-largest crude producer, has over the last few months signed deals with Chinese, Indonesian and Malaysian firms.
On Tuesday, Iran announced an agreement on setting up a planned 300,000 barrels per day oil refinery joint venture in Indonesia, together with a Malaysian partner.
Such deals may irritate Washington, which is spearheading a drive to isolate Tehran over sensitive nuclear work the West fears is aimed at building bomb. Tehran denies the charge.
Danan is in southwest Iran close to the Iraqi border.
Petrovietnam, which is facing sharp declines in domestic oil production, has been stepping up efforts to acquire oil exploration assets overseas, including projects in Algeria, Mongolia and Iraq. (Reporting by Firouz Sedarat; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by James Jukwey)
