Iran opened on Wednesday negotiations with a series of foreign companies that may replace Shell and Total in the industrial exploitation of natural gas resources in the Pars deposit area. The Iranian Energy minister warned that, in case Total and Shell fail to open the exploitations before June, their licenses will be withdrawn. One of the main candidates for the potential opening is the Russian giant Gazprom, RBC Daily comments.
The reserves in the Persian Gulf are estimated at 12,600 billion cubic meters - some 50% of all the natural gas in Iran and 8% of the natural resources worldwide.
Total and Shell responded that their attitude is caused by the increasing prices for raw matters and exploitation. In fact, Russian media experts claim, the problem is that Iran is still under the US-dictated sanctions and any investments would lead to a conflict with the United States.
