Iran Sanctions - Foreign Press Centers

Date Field/Project
Dec.
2011
Gazprom contract voided in late 2011 by
Iran due to Gazprom’s unspecified failure
to fulfill its commitments.
Zagheh Oil Field
Preliminary deal signed December 18, 2011
(Associated Press, December 18, 2011)
Iran Sanctions
Company(ies)/Status
(If Known) Value Output/Goal
Tatneft (Russia) $1 billion 55,000 barrels
per day within
five years
Sources: As noted in table, as well as CRS conversations with officials of the State Department Bureau of
Economics, and officials of embassies of the parent government of some of the listed companies (2005-2009).
Some information comes: March 2010 GAO report, “Firms Reported in Open Sources as Having Commercial
Activity in Iran’s Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Sectors.” GAO-10-515R Iran’s Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Sectors.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10515r.pdf. The GAO report lists 41 firms with “commercial activity in Iran’s
energy sector; several of the listed agreements do not appear to constitute “investment,” as defined in ISA. That
report was updated on August 3, 2011, in GAO-11-855R. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11855r.pdf.
Note: CRS has neither the mandate, the authority, nor the means to determine which of these projects, if any,
might constitute a violation of the Iran Sanctions Act. CRS has no way to confirm the precise status of any of the
announced investments, and some investments may have been resold to other firms or terms altered since
agreement. In virtually all cases, such investments and contracts represent private agreements between Iran and
its instruments and the investing firms, and firms are not necessarily required to confirm or publicly release the
terms of their arrangements with Iran. Reported $20 million+ investments in oil and gas fields, refinery upgrades,
and major project leadership are included in this table. Responsibility for a project to develop Iran’s energy
sector is part of ISA investment definition.
Effect on Gasoline Availability and Importation
In March 2010, well before the enactment of CISADA on July 1, 2010, several gas suppliers to
Iran, anticipating this legislation, announced that they had stopped or would stop supplying
gasoline to Iran. 59 Others have ceased since the enactment of CISADA. Some observers say that
gasoline deliveries to Iran fell from about 120,000 barrels per day before CISADA to about
30,000 barrels per day immediately thereafter, 60 although importation had recovered somewhat to
about 80,000 barrels per day by September 2011. That suggests that Iran has coped by obtaining
additional supplies from those still willing to do business with Iran.
The phaseout of gasoline subsidies discussed above has already reportedly begun to reduce
demand for gasoline. Iran has also increased domestic production by converting at least two
petrochemical plants to gasoline production, through a generally inferior process that initially
produces benzene, leading to a large increase in air pollution in Tehran. Iran also says it has
accelerated renovations and other improvements to existing gasoline refineries, allocating $2.2
billion for that purpose. Even before the subsidy reduction, there had not been significant gasoline
shortages or gasoline rationing.
Building new refining capacity appears to be Iran’s long term effort to reduce its vulnerability to
gasoline supply reductions. Iran’s deputy oil minister said in July 2010 Iran would try to invest
59
Information in this section derived from, Blas, Javier. “Traders Cut Iran Petrol Line.” Financial Times, March 8,
2010.
60
Information provided at Foundation for Defense of Democracies conference on Iran. December 9, 2010.
Congressional Research Service 53