Flags of India & Iran[/caption]A report says Indias Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has pledged New Delhis support for the interests of Indian oil companies in Iran in the face of US sanctions.
India will protect the economic interests of its oil companies from being impacted in the eventuality of US sanctions against them for investing in Iran, the Economic Times reported.
Pradhan made the comments after the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) named Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Oil India LtdBSE (OIL) along with two Chinese firms for having energy ties with Iran, an act for which it can impose sanctions against them.
"India will take its own stand, independent diplomatic stand on the issue," the report quoted the Indian minister as saying. "Certainly economic interest of our companies and country will be priority."
The three firms have been named for their stake in the Farsi offshore block in Iran.
"Looking at the diplomatic complexity of the whole issue, we will look at ways how our companies wont be affected by any adverse situation," Pradhan said.
All the three firms gave similar response to US GAO, saying the "exploration contract (for Farsi block) expired in 2009" and that they had "not carried out any activity after 2007 in the Farsi Block".
OVL, IOC and OIL explored for oil and gas in Iran's Farsi block and proposed investing $5.5 billion to produce gas from the 21.68 trillion cubic foot discovery they made in the offshore area located near the Saudi Arabian border.
The United States and the European Union have imposed several rounds of economic sanctions on Iran in a bid to stop the country from pursuing its peaceful nuclear program. Iran has repeatedly challenged the legality of the sanctions as the country has performed its obligations under the international treaties on nuclear activities.
By Press TV
