UANI

“Iran has dropped Russian giant Gazprom from an oil field project near the Iraqi border, claiming development is taking too long. Hamid Karimi, a senior Oil Ministry official, is quoted by the semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying that a consortium of Iranian companies will replace Gazprom in the Azar oil field project… Years of sanctions have deterred significant investment by international companies with deep pockets and technical expertise.” (AP. "Iran drops Russia’s Gazprom from developing oil field, claiming delays," 8/29/11)

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"Russian natural gas company Gazprom announced Thursday that it was exploring ways to cooperate more closely with Iran in the energy sector. Gazprom chief Alexei Miller welcomed Iranian Deputy Vice President for Economic Affairs Ali Agha Mohammadi to Moscow to discuss bilateral energy issues. 'The parties discussed the opportunities for Russia and Iran to develop cooperation in the oil and gas industry,' the Russian company said in a statement. 'Special attention was paid to the global energy market trends and the issues of strategic partnership within the Gas Exporting Countries Forum activities.' ... State-run Gazprom has played a role in the giant South Pars gas field off the coast of Iran since 1997." (UPI, "Russia, Iran explore energy times," 4/8/11)

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Gazprom may be planning to begin gasoline shipments to Iran, after many European and American petroleum companies halted gasoline shipments in the wake of new sanctions (Bloomberg). 

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"Iran's negotiations to finalize an oil-fields deal with Russia's OAO Gazprom Neft (SIBN.RS) are in the final stages...Russia has come into trouble with Iran after agreeing to support U.S. efforts to get new sanctions from the UN Security Council, but speaking to Dow Jones Newswires, Hojatollah Ghanimifard, vice president in charge of investment affairs at the National Iran Oil Co., said 'we hope to have a final decision soon,' on the Gazprom Neft deal. In November of [2009], Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia's OAO Gazprom, signed a preliminary agreement with NIOC to help develop the Azar and Shangule oil fields." (Wall Street Journal, "Iran Talks with Gazprom Over Oil Fields Reach Final Stages," 6/26/2010).

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"The enormous New York State Common Retirement Fund plans to divest $86.2 million in investments from nine companies doing business in Sudan and Iran...The decision comes after two years of reviewing these companies, the potential risk of the investments and, in some cases, humanitarian efforts in these countries.'We don't expect our investments to benefit regimes that support genocide and terrorism,' said DiNapoli. The fund plans to divest out of $86 million in Gazprom (OGZPY), Inpex (1605.TO), Lukoil (LUKOY), Oil And Natural Gas Corp (500312.BY), OMV (OMVKY), Petroleo Brasilia (PBR), Statoil (STO), Wartsila OYJ and Sinopec Corp. DiNapoli said the firms were chosen because 'they failed to respond or we were not satisfied with their responses' when asked to provide information to the fund on the investments and their risks. (Dow Jones Newswires, "NY Comptroller To Divest $86.2M In State Pension Fund Investments", 6/30/09)

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"Russian giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) agreed last year to take on more Iranian gas projects and has invested about $4 billion since 2007 in the country." (Reuters, "Q+A: Iran's oil supply and potential for disruption," 6/15/09).

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"New Jersey is poised to jettison $360 million worth of stock in 11 companies to comply with new state legislation that prohibits state investment in firms doing business with Iran, officers of the pension fund reported yesterday. The companies to be shed under the Iran prohibition are all international engineering or energy firms, including Lukoil and Gazprom, that have financial ties to the government of Iran." (The Star-Ledger, "State to shed $360M worth of stock in firms tied to Iran," 3/21/08)

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"Russias Gazprom, the worlds top gas producer, said on Tuesday it will take on big new energy projects in Iran, a move likely to anger the United States which wants Tehran isolated over its nuclear work. State-controlled Gazprom, which supplies a quarter of Europes gas needs, said it had agreed to develop more phases of Irans giant South Pars gas field and drill in the countrys oilfields. Gazprom, together with Frances Total and Malaysias Petronas, has already invested in phases 2-3 of massive South Pars gas field, a project worth around $2 billion." (Reuters, "Gazprom, Iran agree new large new large energy projects," 2/19/08)