vendredi, septembre 16, 2005

Plan de développement à 5 ans des réseaux ferrés urbains

* 1 USD = 9030 Rials

Les 80 kms du réseau ferré urbain actuellement en service en Iran devraient être

portés à 120 km au cours des cinq prochaines années. Au plan institutionnel, les

organisations responsables du développement des projets de métros en Iran sont

regroupées depuis 2001 au sein de l’Union des sociétés de transports urbains

ferrés (URCI), dirigée par M. Bayatmako. Cette dernière réunit régulièrement

les directeurs des sociétés publiques qui dépendent des sept grandes

municipalités maîtres d’ouvrage de la construction de métros ou de LRV1

(Machad, Chiraz, Ispahan, Téhéran, Karaj, Ahwaz, Tabriz). Six autres

organisations municipales devraient bientôt adhérer à l’URCI, notamment

Kermanshah et Qom. Cette union professionnelle a pour mission d'informer ses

membres sur les technologies existantes ainsi que d’optimiser la circulation de

l’information entre les différentes organisations impliquées dans les projets,

mais également, à terme, de coordonner les achats. Le budget des organismes

publics de métro est financé pour moitié par les municipalités et pour moitié par

le gouvernement central. Les ressources allouées aux sept grands projets de

construction de métros en Iran dans le cadre du 4ème plan quinquennal de

développement (2005-2009) sont réparties comme suit :

Organismes de

transports urbains

ferrés

Ressources

publiques

prévisionnelles

(Millions USD)

Autres

ressources

(Milliards

Rials*)

Nature des projets

Mashad / MURCO 350 3 000 3 lignes / LRV1

Shiraz / SURO 180 1 380 2 lignes / LRV1

Esfahan / EURO 170 5 740 3 lignes / LRV1

Tabriz / TURO 235 2 010 2 lignes / LRV1

Karaj / KUSRC 300 2 565 Ligne 2 / Métro

léger

Ahwaz / AURO 240 2 100 2 lignes / LRV1

Téhéran /

TURSCO

750 6 258 Lignes 6 & 7 /

Métro lourd

TOTAL

(2005-2009)

2 225 23 053

LRV : Light Railways Vehicle

(Source : URCI)

New complex to up Turkmen gas exports to Iran

LONDON, September 15 (IranMania) - Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov has opened a new gas compressor complex that will allow the former Soviet republic to substantially boost natural gas exports to Iran, Turkmen media said Thursday.

The facility built by German and Iranian contractors at Korpedzh, near the border with Iran at a cost of 114 million euros (139 million dollars), "will allow an increase in the volume and reliability of gas deliveries" by pipeline to Iran, Niyazov said at a ceremony on Wednesday shown on national television.

"Talks are under way with the Iranian side on increasing gas supplies" to Iran next year, Niyazov said, according to AFP.

This year Turkmenistan is due to export five billion cubic metres of natural gas to Iran via a pipeline that runs from Korpedzh to Kurt Kui, in northern Iran, that opened in 1997.

But that volume is well short of the eight billion cubic metres that the pipeline -- which was 80-percent financed by Iran -- was intended to carry.

The pipeline is Turkmenistan's only gas export pipeline that is not part of the ageing Soviet-era network.

While Iran is considered to have massive potential to produce and export its own natural gas, its reserves are mainly in southern Iran, making imports from Turkmenistan a potentially convenient alternative for the north.

Turkmenistan has also agreed to supply 36 billion cubic metres to Ukraine and four billion cubic metres to Russia this year, Turkmen officials said.

The Central Asian state is thought to have among the largest natural gas reserves in the world.

EU Foreign Ministers meet Iran president

LONDON, September 16 (IranMania) - Three European Foreign Ministers held their first talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead of his announcement of new proposals for averting a showdown over Tehran's nuclear issue.

"It was a useful meeting," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who met the new Iranian leader with his French and German counterparts, Philippe Douste-Blazy and Joschka Fischer, according to AFP.

"We now look forward to the speech," said Straw, referring to Ahmadinejad's scheduled address to the UN General Assembly on Saturday when he is expected to unveil some fresh initiatives in the nuclear dispute.

"We're going to listen carefully to what the president has to say and we'll take it from there," Straw said.

The speech could have a significant impact on Monday's meeting in Vienna of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which will discuss possible UN action against Iran for resuming suspected nuclear weapons activities.

Iran agreed to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment activities last November under the so-called Paris agreement. But Tehran resumed its fuel-cycle work in August after angrily rejecting the latest EU-3 offer.

As a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran insists it is allowed to make nuclear fuel.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who also attended the brief meeting with Ahmadinejad, said there were no actual negotiations.

"We have only prepared the ground," Solana said. "If it is possible to continue? .... It's not clear yet. We have to wait until the speech."

Both Solana and Straw stressed that the EU-3 strategy had never been geared toward dragging Iran before the UN Security Council.

"Our aim all the way through when we started these negotiations was to keep the matter out of the Security Council," Straw said.

Fischer said the overriding concern was to prevent the nuclearisation of the Middle East, which he said would have "very negative consequences" at both the regional and global level.

Kazakhstan sees Iran as possible future oil route

LONDON, September 9 (IranMania) - Kazakhstan's Oil Minister Vladimir Shkolnik said the Central Asian nation could turn to Iran for an extra route to export oil as current pipelines reach their limits in a decade or so, Reuters reported.

The nation, which is about five times the size of France, expects output to surge to 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2015 from less than half that now, which would put the former Soviet state in the world's superleague of oil producers.

Even after expanding the Caspian Pipeline Consortium route through Russia, the Atyrau-Samara also through Russia, the new Baku-Ceyhan line and shipments to China, Kazakhstan will need to find more room, if current estimates hold, Shkolnik said on the sidelines of a conference for potential investors.

Asked whether Iran would be a possible location for a new pipeline, he said through a translator: "Iran is included in the considerations which are made on this particular issue."

He added, however, that decisions on how to ship oil are made by private oil companies.

Shkolnik also said that swap operations with Iran -- sending Kazakh oil to the north of Iran in exchange for Iranian oil in the south -- could be "rather profitable."

Kazakhstan, now among the world's top 20 oil producers, pins its hopes of future prosperity on developing its Caspian Sea oil riches. Shkolnik reiterated that the government plans to tender Caspian oil blocks next year, but gave no detailed timeframe.

Shkolnik also said he expected the price of oil to fall from current high levels, though he said it was difficult to predict oil prices. A price drop "is only natural, except I don't think it will be as low as $20-$25 a barrel -- maybe $40-$45," he said.

French major Total had said in June that Iran remained a promising future export route for at least part of the crude from Kazakhstan's Kashagan field in the Caspian, despite U.S. opposition to Tehran.

Kashagan, discovered in 1999, was the world's largest offshore field in 30 years and its volumes are so huge that other export routes will be needed, Total's Vice President for the Caspian, Jean Michel Salvadori, said at the time.

Iran's oil revenue tops projected budget

LONDON, September 15 (IranMania) - Iran's oil income hit dazzling amount of 120,918 billion rials in first five months of the fiscal year (March 21 to August 22, 2005) compared to projected 55,956 billion rials revenue from crude oil exports within the same period.

This is 30% increase from 93,157 billion rials crude oil export in the same period last year. However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, while emphasizing on allocating the oil money for improving economic infrastructure and production, insists that the allocated budget should come from taxation and non-oil revenues within the 4th and 5th socio-economic and cultural development plans.

An informed source in the ministry also stated that the government is expecting to earn $14,128b this fiscal year (Iranian year falling between March 21, 2005 and March 20, 2006) from crude oil exports, an amount that is going to be realized within months.

jeudi, septembre 15, 2005

Iran for mutual agreement on gas security and investment

Iran for mutual agreement on gas security and investment

Anupama Airy

New Delhi, Sept 14 Tehran has proposed the signing of a comprehensive economic and political cooperation agreement with India. The mutual areas of cooperation between the two countries could be security of gas supplies and opportunities to invest in Iran.

The proposal was mooted by Iran’s special envoy, Al Larijani, during his visit to India in the first week of September during which he met various government dignitaries, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“Mr Larijani said the cooperation between the two countries would be more meaningful in case there is a combined package addressing the economic and political cooperation issues. He has requested us for a clear framework for initiating such a cooperation,” a government official told FE.

However, officials agreed that with US raising concerns over India’s expanding ties with Iran, New Delhi will have to adopt a cautious approach while entering into any such agreement with Iran.

Step On The Pedal
Iran says cooperation would be more meaningful if it also addresses economic and political issues
It has requested India for a clear framework for initiating such a cooperation
Tehran is keen on sorting out all pending issues concerning gas pipeline and LNG
US President George W Bush reportedly discussed India’s position over Iran during talks on Tuesday with Dr Singh on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

In contrast, during his meeting with the petroleum ministry brass, Mr Lariajani said that Iran considers its ties with India a “strategic relationship” and is keen on sorting out all pending issues concerning the two big projects — the gas pipeline and LNG exports — between the two countries.

India has recently entered into a sales purchase agreement (SPA) with Tehran for importing 5 million tonne per annum of LNG. The deal is valued at close to $22 billion and is the biggest ever commercial deal entered into by India in the hydrocarbon sector.

The agreement was executed between Indian oil and gas companies — GAIL India, Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum — and the National Iranian Gas Export Company Limited (Nigec) in June. But the Nigec board is yet to take the approval of the board of parent company — National Iranian Oil Company.

mercredi, septembre 14, 2005

L’Iran va exporter 25.000 taxis au Maroc Retour aux dépêches

L'Iran va exporter prochainement quelque 25.000 taxis de marque Samand au Maroc, dans le cadre de la promotion des échanges commerciaux avec les pays africains, a annoncé Moussaoui Mir Calabi, responsable de la cellule Afrique-Pays arabes au ministère iranien du commerce. Le département iranien de la promotion du commerce multiplie les efforts en vue de promouvoir les échanges avec les pays africains, a de son côté précisé mercredi l'agence de presse iranienne "Isna". Plusieurs milliers de véhicules de production iranienne seront exportés vers des pays africains, dont le Maroc, a ajouté Calabi, sans donner plus de détails.

Indo-Pak talks on Iran pipeline project end: Gasline work to start by 2007

* Tripartite Framework Agreement to be signed by December
* Iran has 14 trillion cubic feet gas to export
* Tripathy says no proposal to include China

By Khalid Mustafa


ISLAMABAD: Indian Petroleum Secretary SC Tripathy said on Friday that a proposed $7 billion Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project was likely to be initiated by the mid of 2007 and completed by 2010.

“Some areas of Pakistan and northern parts of India will start benefiting from the Iranian gas by early 2010,” Tripathy said at a press briefing along with Pakistan’s Petroleum Secretary Ahmad Waqar after the end of a two-day meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) in Islamabad. The next meeting of the group might be held in the 2nd week of November while the Tripartite Framework Agreement is likely to be finalised by December.

The main points discussed at the JWG meeting included gas reserve certification and allocation, gas quantity and build-up, gas quality, system configuration and project structure, pipeline route, delivery points, transportation tariff, transit fee, capital, operation costs and pipeline security.

Tripathy said that pre-feasibility study of the project would be completed by the end of December 2005, after that it would take one-and-a-half years to initiate the project. He said that Iran had told Pakistan and India that it had 14 trillion cubic feet gas for export. “However Pakistan and India will require only two trillion cubic feet gas, to be consumed in 30 years,” he said.

Asked about the statement by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to the United States in which he described the project as fraught with risks, Tripathy said: “Our prime minister was misunderstood. Actually, he said that there was uncertainty as the project was at the preliminary stage.” The Indian official said that in his statement in parliament, Singh said that it was a matter between India, Pakistan and Iran and the US had nothing to do with the project. He added that for the time being, there was no proposal to include China in the project.

Pakistani Petroleum Secretary Ahmad Waqar said that India had appointed Earnest & Young its financial consultants while Pakistan would appoint its financial advisor this month for which the bidding process would be completed by September 14. Mr Waqar said that Pakistan would receive a maximum gas of 2.5 billion cubic feet per day while India will have 3.1 billion cubic feet per day. Rashid Lone, managing director of the Inter-State Gas System, told Daily Times that in case of sanctions against Iran, Pakistan would immediately move towards the other proposed Turkmenistan–Afghanistan-Pakistan or Qatar-Pakistan pipeline.

Lancement d'un appel d'offre pour la construction de deux centrales nucléaires

L'Iran lancera un appel d'offre international pour la construction de deux nouvelles centrales nucléaires, a déclaré le ministre iranien des Affaires étrangères, Manouchehr Mottaki, dimanche lors d'une conférence de presse.

"Le parlement a passé une loi pour la construction de vingt centrales nucléaires et la production de 20.000 mégawatts d'électricité. La décision de lancer un appel d'offre est un premier pas du gouvernement pour appliquer la décision du parlement", a affirmé M. Mottaki, sans donner d'autres détails.

La première centrale nucléaire iranienne est en construction à Bouchehr (sud) par les Russes, et devra entrer en fonction fin 2006. Récemment, des responsables nucléaires iraniens ont affirmé que des négociations étaient en cours avec la Russie pour la construction de nouvelles centrales. Téhéran justifie son programme d'enrichissement d'uranium par ses besoins de combustibles pour ses futures centrales nucléaires.

Les pays européens, qui ont mené des négociations avec l'Iran pendant deux ans à propos de son dossier nucléaire, demandent à Téhéran de renoncer à son programme d'enrichissement qui peut également être utilisé à des fins militaires. Les négociations nucléaires entre l'Iran et l'UE (représentée par la Grande-Bretagne, la France et l'Allemagne) ont été suspendues après que Téhéran eut relancé ses activités nucléaires en août dernier.