Tehran: Iran signed gas deals worth $14 billion with Malaysia, state television reported on Tuesday, the latest Asian investment in the Islamic Republic where Western firms have become increasingly cautious about their investments.
The deals involved a project to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the development to two gas fields, state television said. It gave few additional details and did not say if all the projects were new. Malaysian state oil firm Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) had said in July it was interested in Iran but said it was assessing its involvement in the Pars LNG project because of rising costs. It was not clear if TV was referring to this deal.
Pars LNG is one of several projects that Iran has been planning but which has made limited progress. Despite sitting on the world's second-largest reserves of gas, Iran has been slow to develop exports partly because of US sanctions. "Iranian and Malaysian senior oil and gas officials signed three agreements on Monday night on cooperation in oil and gas fields," state television reported. "The $14 billion agreements are to develop Iran's Golshan and Ferdows gas fields (in the Gulf), as well as an LNG project," Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari was quoted as saying. [3/12/08]
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