Russia appears to be joining the race to build a Caspian pipeline to Iran after European oil companies announced plans to study the route, reported Radio Free Europe, citing officials.
Speaking at a London conference last week, the head of the Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft was quoted as saying that his company had started a feasibility study on an Iranian line with its Kazakh counterpart, KazTransOil.
The study is separate from one planned by the French and Belgian oil company TotalFinaElf, the report said.
Transneft's Semyon Vainshtok said the line would run through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, linking the Siberian oil center of Omsk with Iran's Caspian port of Neka. The project would allow Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan to swap their oil with Iran, which can export equal amounts of its crude through the Persian Gulf, Vainshtok said.
The new Russian plan is the latest of many involving Iran and Caspian oil swaps. Ideally, swaps could save hundreds of kilometers in transit by letting Iran refine Caspian oil for use in its northern cities. But in practice, the trade has proved difficult so far.
In a related development, Iran and Japan were close Sunday to finalizing an oil deal, shrugging off US efforts to stop its allies from making major energy deals with a nation it accuses of sponsoring terrorism.
In a letter of intent signed with Iran the same day, Japan agreed to spend $10 million to help fund a seismic study of the Azadegan oil field, which contains an estimated 26 billion barrels of oil. The two countries also signed an energy cooperation agreement, according to the agency.
"Japan is not affected by US pressure," Japanese Trade Minister Takeo Hiranuma told reporters during a signing ceremony in Tehran.
The United States accuses Iran of sponsoring international terrorism and has strongly discouraged investment in its energy sector.
The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, which took effect in 1996, bars American companies from investing more than $20 million in Iran's oil and gas industry and threatens to punish foreign companies that do so.
So far, Washington hasn't followed through on its threat, according to the AP, which added that the Japanese agreement was the second in two weeks by a US ally disregarding US opposition. Italy's ENI signed a $1 billion deal last week to develop Iran's Darkhovin onshore oil field – Albawaba.com
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