In a letter to the Tehran Times Economic Desk, Mr. Hamid Zaheri, the general manager of the Crescent Petroleum office in Tehran, has responded to the comments of Mr. Seifollah Jashnsaz, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company, regarding the Crescent deal published in the November 8 issue of the TehranTimes .
Following is the text of the letter:
- Crescent denies completely that there is any commitment on our side not fulfilled. We have completed all our obligations according to the contract as a good partner and finished our facilities before the contract was supposed to start in December 2005.
NIOC however is 3 years late already with its technical facilities and this has caused severe and ongoing losses to ourselves, our customers in the UAE, and especially to NIOC and the Iranian Government.
The signed 25-year contract is internationally binding on both parties, regardless of price negotiations, and cannot be "suspended" unilaterally, especially when gas deliveries have yet to commence due to NIOC technical delays.
We expect NIOC to honor its obligations as we have done, as its reputation as a reliable gas supplier in the region is at stake.