Boycott Shell - Company works with Iran

[Guest Craig]

On Saturday, Spanish newspaper Expansion claimed that the oil majors were holding talks with the Iranian government to withdraw from their current development plans for phase 14 of the South Pars gas field due to pressure exerted from the White House.

 

"I have seen nothing official on that and there has been no reference to that in any domestic negotiations," Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, international affairs director of the National Iranian Oil Company, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

 

Repsol had declined to comment to repoters on its gas deal with Iran after the Expansion report was published.

 

Earlier today, an Iranian official who spoke to Fars News Agency on the condition of anonymity raised the likelihood of a reassignment of the various phases of South Pars among European oil companies.

 

"These companies--Shell, Total and Repsol--do not intend to cut their cooperation with Iran. They are actually trying to continue their presence in the country's energy projects and, based on this fact, they have proposed some changes to the phases previously assigned," the official said.

 

The United States and its European allies accuse Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons. Iran, however, insists that its nuclear activities are solely aimed at producing electricity for its growing population.

 

Shell, Europe's largest oil and gas company, had teamed up with Spain's Repsol to sign a preliminary deal with Tehran to invest $10 billion in the gas project.