UANI

Naftiran is an Iranian government-funded energy company based in Switzerland that has recently undertaken a number of lucrative joint ventures with European oil companies. Naftiran posted revenues of $21.9 billion in 2008, and buys the vast majority of Iran's petroleum imports. It is becoming increasingly clear that Naftiran plays a vital role in Iran's global economic strategy, and U.S. officials believe that Naftiran's investment decisions are at least partly made by the Iranian parliament (Time).

Most concerning are Naftiran's joint ventures with British Petroleum. In the North Sea, BP and Naftiran subsidiary Iranian Oil Company are 50-50 joint partners in the Rhum gas field project, which generates 1% of the UK's daily consumption, or $1 million of natural gas per day. The total value of the Iranian Oil Company's projects in the North Sea is $794 million (Time).

Naftiran has also partnered with BP in the Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan, a project that now produces 8 billion cubic meteres of natural gas per year - one of the largest gas fields in the world. BP owns 25.5% of this venture, while Naftiran owns 10%. ConocoPhillips-owned Lukoil also holds 10%. The second phase of Shah Deniz is expected to produce $16 billion, and Naftiran plans to invest $1.7 billion (Time).

Naftiran is a major BP shareholder, with over $775 million in shares. The company also retains complete ownership of the Hood gas field in the North Sea, and maintains joint projects with Shell in Senegal (Company Website). 

The Wall Street Journal lists LITASCO SA as a company that sold gasoline to Iran in 2009.

(The Wall Street Journal, "Black-Market Gasoline Shelters Iran," 6/17/2010)

This revelation comes following an article in April, 2009, in which "Commodities Now" reported that "Russian oil company LUKoil’s trading arm LITASCO has decided to stop selling refined products to Iran, in what is widely understood to be a politically motivated move after pressure to do so from the Russian government."

Prior to this announcement, the company was reportedly "shipping between 250,000 and 500,000 barrels of gasoline (petrol) to Iran per month."

(Commodities-Now.com, "Lukoil Halts Fuel Trade with Iran," 4/9/2010).

Zurich Financial Services is an insurance-based financial services provider based in Switzerland, operating in over 170 countries (Company Website). 

Zurich Financial Services lists Iran in its Global Directory (Company Website), and is included in Business Monitor International's Iran Insurance Report (Business Monitor International, subscription required). 

Zurich Financial Services's corporate responsibility policy states that the company "proactively addresses social, environmental and governance issues of rightful concern to our stakeholders" (Company Website).

Iranian suppliers of Mettler-Toledo products, according to the company website. (Company Website)

In a correspondance with the SEC in 2009, Logitech International disclosed details of their business in Iran.

"The software and services that were downloaded or used by persons in Iran allow users to have access to: (1) streaming media hardware products to access Internet radio stations and stream their digital audio files from their personal computer to the product; (2) web cameras (or, in certain cases, those of other manufacturers) to initiate or receive video calls from personal computers; and (3) universal remote control products to select, from a database, the audio-visual devices used by the user, to download the infrared or radio-frequency codes associated with the remote controls for such devices, and to choose the order in which the devices are turned on or off, according to the user’s preferences." (CORRESP for LOGITECH INTERNATIONAL SA, 10/2/2009)

"Foster Wheeler, an engineering and construction firm that provides services to the oil and gas industry, did business in Iran until 2006, when it told the Securities and Exchange Commission it was withdrawing. It used to be a United States-based company, but moved in 2001 to Bermuda, which allowed it to avoid United States corporate income taxes, and has since moved again to Switzerland."

While the company was performing business in Iran from 2000 to 2006, Foster Wheeler was the recipient of $199 million in U.S. federal funds. (The New York Times, "Profiting from Iran, and the U.S.", 3/6/10)

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The company is listed as subcontractor for the South Pars Field Phase 6.7. & 8 (Petropars website)

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"According to "Tehran Times", U.S.-based engineer Foster Wheeler is optimistic about business prospects in Iran, according to its executive president Gianni Bachiddu. According to Middle East Economic Digest (MEED), he said there was a "tremendous amount" of engineering and project management consultants coming from both the National Iranian Oil…" (IPR Strategic Business Information Database, "US's Foster Wheeler Optimistic over Iran's Prospects", 3/20/2002)

MSC lists two agency offices in Iran in the cities of Tehran and Bandar Abbas. (Company Website)

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In the Persian 1384 (2005/2006), the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran awarded MSC's Agents in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sea Glow Shipping Agency LLC, the prestigious "Best Shipping Agency Company." In a statement, MSC said, "It is a matter of pride that the Sea Glow Shipping Agency LLC team in Iran have been able to get this prestigious award for the first full Persian year since we started commercial operations as agents for MSC in May 2004." ("Prestigious Award for MSC Agent in Iran," 8/22/06)

• "Glencore, a commodities trader, was a large supplier of gasoline to Iran, but stopped last year in the face of threatened new economic sanctions by the U.S. government.  The company, and its predecessor, Marc Rich and Co., had done business with Iran for more than three decades. It also has provided the United States military with transporation services, among other things."  From 2000-2009, the company has been the recipient of $20.2 million US federal funds.  They have withdrawn their activities in Iran. (The New York Times, "Profiting from Iran, and the US," 3/6/2010)

• "Swiss commodities trader Glencore International AG halted gasoline shipments to Iran two to three months ago, people familiar with the matter said, a response in part to the rising prospect of heftier sanctions against the Islamic Republic for its nuclear program.

  Glencore declined to comment. Glencore has long been one of the biggest gasoline providers to Iran, and the move could frustrate Iran's ability to meet its country's fuel needs…

  The halt of Glencore's Iran business could also help the company prepare for an anticipated initial public offering. The U.S. House of Representatives last month passed legislation that bars any company that does more than $20 million in oil and gas business with Iran from doing business in the U.S. The Senate is expected to pass the bill early this year." (The Wall Street Journal, "Swiss Firm Halts Its Sales of Gas to Iran," 1/9/09)

• "Iran typically gets the bulk of its gasoline from the following five firms: Vitol (Switzerland/Netherlands), Trafigura (Switzerland/Netherlands), Reliance Industries Ltd. (India), Glencore (Switzerland) and Total (France)." (Stratfor, "Special Series:Iran Sanctions," September 2009)

• "Due to limited refining capabilities, Iran imports approximately 40% of its domestic gasoline consumption. Iran is the second-largest importer of gasoline in the world. That gasoline is supplied primarily by five companies: the Swiss-Dutch energy trading giants Vitol and Trafigura, the Indian multinational Reliance Industries, the Swiss trader Glencore and the French energy firm Total." (The Wall Street Journal, "Hitting Tehran Where It Hurts," 7/13/09)

• "Because of a lack of domestic refining capacity, oil-rich Iran is dependent on gasoline imports to meet about 40 percent of domestic consumption. Iran gets most of its gasoline imports from the Swiss firm Vitol, the Swiss/Dutch firm Trafigura, France's Total, the Swiss firm Glencore and British Petroleum, as well as the Indian firm Reliance." (Agence-France Press, "US lawmakers target Iran gasoline imports," 6/23/09)

"In 2004 UBS, a Swiss bank, paid a $100m fine (without admitting any liability) for providing new banknotes to Cuba and Iran." (The Economist. "Patchy blockade; Cuba and the United States," 8/16/08)

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"US victims of attacks in Israel and their families are suing Swiss bank UBS for 500 million dollars, alleging it financed terrorism by doing business with Iran, their lawyer told AFP Tuesday." (AFP. "US families sue UBS over alleged terror links," 5/13/08)

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"In late 2005, Dutch bank ABN Amro agreed to pay $80 million in fines stemming in part from improper transactions with Iran through its subsidiary in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. UBS Bank and Credit Suisse of Switzerland recently announced they were suspending most new business with Iran, and British-based HSBC said it would no longer accept dollar transactions from within Iran." (Los Angeles Times, "U.S. Puts The Squeeze On Iran's Oil Fields," January 7, 2007) "Since January three European banks - UBS, Credit Suisse and ABN Amro - have curtailed their activities in Iran. The banks said that their decisions to cut back had been business ones." (The London Times, "American pressure threatens UK firms," May 27, 2006)

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UBS will no longer deal with individuals, companies or state institutions such as Iran's central bank, said company spokesman Serge Steiner. A similar policy is also being implemented in the case of Syria, he said.

All existing business with customers in Iran will be canceled, but Iranians in exile are not affected by the decision, Steiner said, confirming an article in Swiss weekly SonntagsZeitung.

"It is a carefully prepared measure that has been under consideration since last fall," Steiner said.

Iran, under increasing international pressure over its nuclear program — and mindful of the freezing of its U.S. assets after the 1979 seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran — has already begun transferring its reserves from European banks to an undisclosed location.

Steiner declined to specify the volume of business affected by the bank's decision. (Fox News. "UBS Halts Business with Iran," 1/22/06)

"Due to limited refining capabilities, Iran imports approximately 40% of its domestic gasoline consumption. Iran is the second-largest importer of gasoline in the world. That gasoline is supplied primarily by five companies: the Swiss-Dutch energy trading giants Vitol and Trafigura, the Indian multinational Reliance Industries, the Swiss trader Glencore and the French energy firm Total." (The Wall Street Journal, "Hitting Tehran Where It Hurts," 7/13/09)

"Because of a lack of domestic refining capacity, oil-rich Iran is dependent on gasoline imports to meet about 40 percent of domestic consumption. Iran gets most of its gasoline imports from the Swiss firm Vitol, the Swiss/Dutch firm Trafigura, France's Total, the Swiss firm Glencore and British Petroleum, as well as the Indian firm Reliance." (Agence-France Press, "US lawmakers target Iran gasoline imports," 6/23/09)

"State Sen. Ted Deutch has a vision where Florida puts a stop to Iran's nuclear ambitions. His weapon: public opinion. His ammunition: a $125-million fuel depot being built in Port Canaveral by one of the worlds largest oil traders. Deutch has asked Gov. Charlie Crist to broker a meeting with executives from Vitol, the Swiss company that supplies one quarter of Irans fuel and is building the largest private investment in Port Canaverals history. Deutch hopes to leverage public opinion to persuade Vitol to stop selling gasoline to Iran. (St. Petersburg Times, "Business with Iran May Mean None in Florida," 12/07/08)

"In recent months, Iran has, according to the respected trade publication International Oil Daily and other sources including the U.S. government, purchased nearly all of this gasoline from just five companies, four of them European: the Swiss firm Vitol; the Swiss/Dutch firm Trafigura; the French firm Total; British Petroleum; and one Indian company, Reliance Industries." (The Wall Street Journal, "How To Put The Squeeze On Iran," 11/13/08)