NIOC and Gazprom signed an energy agreement on Sunday in the presence of Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari (c). (Photo by Ali Rafiei)

Iran and Gazprom Sunday signed an agreement for the Russian energy giant to help Tehran develop its oil and gas fields.
Head of Gazprom affirmed that his company is ready to participate in major Iranian oil and gas projects, days after the French company Total made the mistake of dropping out of a multi-billion dollar gas deal in South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf.
“Gazprom will be a cooperative partner for the Islamic Republic of Iran,“ IRIB quoted Alexei Miller, CEO of the Russian energy giant, as telling President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a meeting in Tehran.
Miller expressed willingness for Gazprom to participate ’in big oil and gas projects; in South and North Pars, Azadegan and the Caspian Sea fields’.
Ahmadinejad, for his part, said that Iran is ’interested in expanding ties with Russia in oil and gas as far as possible’.

Politically Motivated
The head of French energy giant Total last week said it was dropping out of a multi-billion-dollar gas investment to develop phase 11 of South Pars, claiming it was politically too risky to invest in the Islamic Republic.
However, the assurances made by Russia’s Gazprom chief for all-out cooperation with Iran in the latter’s lucrative energy sector put the reliability of Total’s ’politically motivated’ comments in doubt.
Western governments have pressured their companies to sever ties with Iran over its civilian nuclear program. To fight back, Iran is forging closer ties with Russian and Asian firms and insists it is capable of carrying out such projects alone.

Total Apologetic
For Europe, the lack of supply from Iran leaves it more dependent reliant on Russia. At the same time, European firms are hesitant to fully commit to Iranian energy deals, as they do not want to incite Washington’s wrath.
However, hesitation by oil majors has indeed led to new opportunities for companies such as China’s Sinopec, OMV of Austria, and the Indian national oil company and of course the Russian oil giant Gazprom.
At the same time, European countries putting unjustified pressure on Tehran are acutely conscious that the demand for energy is working against their efforts to hinder Iran’s economy.
Perhaps, that explains why Total announced on Saturday that ’it still has some important activities in Iran and intends to keep and develop them’.
“Total has some important activities in Iran and intends to keep and develop them,“ Head of the Public Relations Department at Total Roya Farhang told IRNA.
Farhang provided IRNA with some clarifications on the position of Total concerning Iran and said, “Iran is one of the most important countries for the world’s energy market. Therefore, Total is interested in future projects on the development of South Pars gas field and wants to maintain a long-term partnership with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).“
Christophe de Margerie, Total Group chairman, spoke to Financial Times two weeks ago at the World Oil Congress in Madrid.
Margerie mentioned that for political reasons important countries like Iran were actually not playing the role they could and that in the current situation it would be taking too much political risk to invest in Iran.
He said that the statement was in no way referring to political events of last week, but unfortunately some US journalists used it in that context.
Concerning the Total Group’s position on Pars LNG project, Farhang quoted de Margerie as saying that it is out of the question to stop the Pars LNG project and it is also out of the question to abandon the project.
Farhang further quoted de Margerie as announcing that constructive talks are continuing with the NIOC to agree on a revised plan for the Pars LNG project, including on the development of the Phase 11 of South Pars to be ready to launch it as soon as conditions allow.
Total has a memorandum of understanding with the NIOC to develop Phase 11.

Gas Forum
During their Sunday meeting, Miller and Ahmadinejad also discussed the need for further development of the forum of gas exporting nations ’as a permanently acting international organization’.
Some observers describe the gas exporters’ forum as a ’Gas OPEC’. Iran and Russia have refused to call it a cartel, denying that the group would control prices and supply.
Gazprom said in a statement on Sunday that while in Iran, Miller also met with the Iranian oil minister and the National Iranian Oil Company.
Gazprom’s statement said Miller discussed setting up a joint venture for oil and gas exploration and production in Iran and building transport and refining infrastructure. In addition, it said they discussed Russian gas supplies being sent to northern Iran.
Iran has an estimated 974 trillion cubic feet in proven natural gas reserves, the world’s second largest after Russia. Around 62 percent of Iranian natural gas reserves are located in non-associated fields, and have not been developed.
Also, Iran is producing around 4.23 million barrels per day of crude oil which provides ample proof that the country is least affected by the illegal US-led sanctions.

Prosecutors indicted 86 hardline secular Turks on terrorism charges for their involvement in plots to topple the popular Islamic-rooted government, a chief prosecutor said.
Aykut Cengiz Engin said on Monday the 86 include at least one former general, along with journalists, academicians and businessmen, AP reported.
They were charged with either forming or being a member of a terrorist organization or with provoking an armed uprising with the aim of bringing down Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
The suspects allegedly crafted plans to create chaos that would provoke a military coup and in turn topple Erdogan.
The indictment is seen as the latest episode in an ongoing power struggle between the government and secular groups supported by the military and other state institutions, including the judiciary and some trade groups.
A court must now decide within two weeks whether to open the case.
Turkey’s military, which staged three coups in the past, has criticized the government for allegedly eroding the secular system.
But the top brass is believed to have controlled hawks within its ranks by occasionally issuing harsh statements against the government to appease them.
The coup plots are being taken seriously because two previous army takeovers in TurkeyÑin 1960 and 1980Ñwere preceded by periods of civil strife.
The suspects were detained as part of an investigation after police uncovered a cache of hand grenades at the house of a retired noncommissioned officer in Istanbul last summer.
The investigation was deepened after Erdogan vowed to crack down on shadowy “deep state“ gangsÑnetworks of renegade agents within the state, driven by hardline nationalism, who may be taking the law into their own hands to target perceived enemies.
Three prosecutors have unveiled what they say is an intriguing net of ties between members of a hardline secularist and nationalist group, called “Ergenekon,“ which takes its name from a legendary plain in Central Asia, from which Turks are believed to have emerged.
The prosecutor said the group is allegedly behind the 2006 attacks on the administrative court and the pro-secular Cumhuriyet newspaper, which infuriated secularists and led to protests against the government.
Engin said the 2,455-page indictment also accuses suspects of possessing explosives and arms as well as obtaining classified documents and provoking military disobedience.
The prosecutor said an additional indictment is being prepared against a dozen more people, including two senior retired generals, who were arrested in early July for their alleged ties to the group.
Erdogan’s government is facing possible closure by the Constitutional Court for alleged anti-secular activity. The country’s prosecutor also wants Erdogan and 70 other party members banned from joining a political party for five years.
Erdogan’s party, formed in 2001 by politicians who once belonged to Turkey’s Islamic movement, denies it has any secret religious agenda.

The United States and other western countries are dealing in a provocative way with Iran over its peaceful nuclear program and should respect its sovereignty, Kuwait’s parliament speaker said.
Jassem Al-Kharafi also said the West was using double standards in the dispute by trying to stop Iran’s nuclear program while saying nothing about Israel, which possesses the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal. The occupation regime neither confirms nor denies the possession of nuclear weapons.
“I think what is happening with regard to the Iranian nuclear issue involves a lot of exaggeration...and the method was provocative,“ state news agency KUNA quoted Kharafi as saying late on Sunday.
“The country has its status and strategy in the region and should not be threatened in the way which we saw,“ he added.
Sunni Muslim-ruled Kuwait, a staunch US ally, is home to thousands of US troops.
Kuwaiti officials rarely criticize the United States, which led a coalition to end the 1990-91 Iraqi occupation of Arab oil exporter of the Persian Gulf.
“Such a sensitive issue requires the language of dialogue, not escalation ... It is necessary to respect Iran’s sovereignty because a resolution will not be reached by treating it like a US state,“ he said.

Omar Al-Beshir

The International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor called on Monday for the arrest of Sudan’s President Omar Al-Beshir for alleged genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.
Beshir had “masterminded and implemented“ a plan to destroy a large portion of three ethnic groups in the western Sudanese region, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement released in The Hague, AFP reported.
His appeal to the court’s judges marked the first-ever request to the ICC for an arrest warrant against a sitting head of state.
Moreno-Ocampo’s bold move came despite fears and warnings that it could enflame tensions in Darfur and lead to the expulsion of aid workers and peacekeepers in Sudan’s troubled western region.
Sudan immediately rejected the call as damaging to Darfur peace hopes, but British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Khartoum to cooperate with the court.
In Cairo, the Arab League said foreign ministers are to hold an emergency meeting on Sudan on Saturday to discuss the prosecutor’s call.
The Argentine prosecutor told journalists after delivering the statement that “what happened in Darfur is a consequence of Beshir’s will“.
“The crime of genocide is a crime of intention. Beshir had the intention to destroy the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups,“ engaged in a rebellion in Darfur.
Khartoum, which rejects the ICC’s jurisdiction and refuses to surrender two war crimes suspects already named, warned that the move could threaten peace efforts in Sudan’s long-running conflict.
A foreign ministry spokesman said the prosecutor’s move to indict Beshir “completely disregarded the efforts undertaken by the government, the regional powers and the international community (on Darfur)“.
Ali Al-Sadiq said the arrest call would only encourage Darfur rebels to launch attacks on the people of Darfur and on UN peacekeepers, as well as “complicate the engagement between Sudan and the UN“.