BP Amoco Chemicals Won't Invest In Iran Under Sanctions
August 4, 1999, LONDON (Dow Jones)--BP Amoco PLC (BPA) won't invest
in Iran 's petrochemicals industry until the British and U.S. governments
reach agreement on sanctions, which limit non-U.S. companies from investing
in Iran , Bryan K. Sanderson, chief executive officer of BP Amoco Chemicals,
told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.
"We won't budge an inch and invest in Iran until London and Washington
make some sort of an agreement on the whole sanctions issue," Sanderson
said.
Under the Iran /Libya Sanctions Act, non-U.S. companies that do business
in Iran or Libya stand to have their U.S. assets penalized.
BP Amoco Chemicals has been hotly tipped by senior representatives at
Iran 's National Petrochemicals Company as the first international company
expected to make an investment in Iran 's petrochemicals sector.
A senior director at NPC told Dow Jones Newswires recently BP Amoco
Chemicals would decide by the end of August whether to build a 1 million-metric-tons-a-year
ethylene cracker at Bandar Imam on Iran 's Persian Gulf or to move the
project to the petrochemicals zone at Assaluyeh in southern Iran .
Sources close to company negotiations under way in Iran have also said
that, once BP Amoco Chemicals makes a move and signs a deal with Iran ,
other international companies will follow suit.
"We would love to go into Iran when the conditions are right -
there are so many opportunities there for us," Sanderson said.
"But as well as needing political approval from London and Washington
we also want to know that the political ambiance is correct and particularly
that it is safe to send staff on the ground there," he said.
According to Sanderson, BP's merger late last year with Amoco hasn't
created any new restrictions regarding its investment plans in Iran .
"Before we merged with Amoco, a number of our assets were based
in the U.S. Nothing has changed on that front," Sanderson said.
Iranian oil ministry sources have said they have been in talks with
potential investors since the end of 1997, when Iran first invited international
companies to invest in its petrochemicals sector at a London conference.
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