As noted several weeks ago, Iran’s Pars Oil & Gas struck a $16 billion deal with SKS Ventures, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Al-Bukhari Foundation, to develop the Golshan and Ferdowsi gas fields in southern Iran.  This agreement  was in line with the national policy to attract investments in oil and gas sector from non-Western, especially Asian, states. For example, less than a month ago, China’s biggest oil refiner, Sinopec, signed a two-billion-dollar contract on developing Yadavaran oil and gas field in southern Iran.

This trend of Iran is looking to Asia to attract investment in its lucrative oil and gas sector, according to the Iran Daily newspaper, is likely to continue and will continue to force Asian nations to decide between long-term investment opportunity & the pressure to adhere to U.S.-led economic sanctions:

“…With the economic growth at its highest in recent years, South Asian countries need energy to fuel their economy. As European energy giants such as Shell, Total vacillate about signing deals with Iran due to political pressure, Tehran has requested companies interested in South Pars and other energy projects to submit plans by June. Iran’s Oil Ministry has warned that Tehran will not wait for any foreign firms’ foot-dragging over the issue. Recently, Iranian oil officials have started intense negotiations with their Bahraini peers. The most important agreements reached between Manama and Tehran was on exports of gas to the regional country.

Shifting oil and gas deals to eastern countries is high on Iran’s agenda and has led to weakening the influence of US-led sanctions against the country.

“…While the US government has put pressure on its western allies to halt investments in Iran due to suspicions over its nuclear program, Tehran has openly pushed ahead with deals with Asian companies.“

On the other hand, some Asian countries are facing a new challenge of not knowing how long they should toe hostile US policies against Iran and lose investment opportunities in this hydrocarbon-rich Middle Eastern country.

Japan is one such country as Tokyo sees China, Malaysia and Russia seize lucrative business opportunities in Iran; it looks for a way to relieve itself from US pressure. Japan has conservatively maintained low-profile cooperation with Iran under US pressure.

…Japan has so far lost the investment opportunities in the huge Azadegan oil and gas field. But the resource-poor country is still hopeful it can seize other golden opportunities in future as its arch-rivals China has finalized its deal on development of Yadavaran and Russia has sent nuclear fuel for Bushehr nuclear power plant. It is predicted the Japanese companies will rush to Iran energy market….”