Maersk Oil today confirmed it had signed a memorandum of understanding to explore business opportunities in Iran, a news report said.
Maersk Oil, part of Danish conglomerate Moller-Maersk, told Reuters it had inked the deal with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), but declined to provide further details on the nature of the agreement.
However, NIOC’s deputy head for development and engineering, Gholamreza Manuchehri, was quoted by Iranian media as saying the talks concerned the second phase of development of the offshore South Pars field.
South Pars stretches into Qatari waters where the oil-bearing layer is called Al Shaheen.
In June, Maersk Oil lost its agreement to operate Al Shaheen, which produces 300,000 barrels per day.