Japan will start to develop a massive oilfield in Iran next year despite opposition from the United States about the investment in the Islamic republic, a report said Thursday.
Japan signed a two-billion-dollar deal with Tehran in February 2004 to develop the massive Azadegan oilfield in south-western Iran to try to ensure stable oil supplies for the resource-poor Asian nation.
Inpex, the Japanese oil firm which acquired the development rights, plans to start work in early 2006, the Asahi Shimbun daily reported, quoting unnamed Inpex officials.
Production is expected to start in 2008, a year later than initially scheduled, the report said.
Washington has repeatedly objected to Tokyo about the project, keeping the Japanese government, the largest shareholder in Inpex, prudent over when work should begin. "Inpex may lose its (development) rights if it fails to start the project soon," an Inpex official was quoted as saying in the report.
European and Chinese firms are also interested in acquiring shares in the Iranian oil development, it noted. Inpex officials were not immediately available.
The company already has begun preparing for constructing drilling and other facilities with an environmental assessment approved in July, the report said.
"The government should handle the oil development issue separately from the nuclear allegation," an Inpex official said in the report, referring to US concerns that Tehran is acquiring the technology for a nuclear weapons program.