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Iran Reiterates Stance Against Oil Explorations in Disputed Caspian Areas
Iran on Wednesday reiterated its stance on exploration of the oil-rich Caspian Sea, saying that the Caspian littoral states should not engage in oil exploration activities in disputed areas.
Iran's Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Hossein Kazempour Ardebili warned that escalation of tension in the Caspian Sea would serve the interests of none of the neighboring states, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iran has protested plans by the Azeri state-run oil company, Socar, to carry out oil exploration in cooperation with foreign companies, notably the British BP Amoco, at the Alborz oil field " in Iran's sector of the Caspian Sea."
Ardebili noted that Iran had already informed BP Amoco and all the Caspian states, including Azerbaijan, that they do not have the right to encroach into Iran's 20 percent share of the sea for oil exploration and other activities concerning maritime life and the environment.
The Iranian operation units within its 20 percent limit warned two exploration ships belonging to BP Amoco and gave them sufficient time to withdraw from the area, he further explained.
Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan are the five littoral states of the Caspian Sea, which is estimated to contain the world's third largest reserves of oil and gas after the Persian Gulf and Siberia.
Iran has pushed for division of the sea into five equal sectors. But Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan contend that the sea floor should be divided into national sectors, which would leave Iran with the smallest slice.
The five littoral states agreed last June that bilateral or trilateral agreement in the absence of the collective consensus will be ineffective.
Analysts here said that the complex question of how to divide the resource-rich Caspian Sea is supposed to be decided in an October summit of the five nations, which has been postponed by several times since last April.
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