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Halliburton wins drilling tender in Iran

* The company insists it is not illegal for it to work in Tehran

TEHRAN: US oil services company Halliburton, whose operations in Iran have come under investigation by US authorities, has won a tender to drill a huge Iranian gas field, an official said on Sunday.

A US grand jury issued a subpoena to the Texan firm in July, seeking information about its Cayman Islands unit’s work in Iran, where it is illegal for US companies to operate.

Halliburton insists it is not illegal for offshore subsidiaries, such as Halliburton Products & Services Limited, to work in the Islamic Republic, where it provides a range of services to the lumbering state oil company.

Akbar Torkan, managing director of the Pars Oil and Gas company, said Halliburton had won a tender to drill two phases of the South Pars gas field in the Gulf, which sits on the world’s biggest reservoir of natural gas.

“Halliburton and Oriental are final winners of the tender for drilling South Pars phases nine and 10,” he told the ISNA students’ news agency.

These phases are 58 percent operated by Iranian state companies and 42 percent by South Korea’s LG. Iran has the world’s second-largest reserves of natural gas but has been slow to develop them for export.

Washington has imposed sanctions to prevent companies doing business with OPEC’s second-biggest producer, which it accuses of developing atomic warheads and sponsoring terror networks. Tehran denies the charges and says it has no objection to working with US firMs. reuters

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