REPORTED TOTAL INTEREST IN AZADEGAN PROJECT

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 005208 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2016 TAGS: ETTC EINV EPET ENRG JA SUBJECT: REPORTED TOTAL INTEREST IN AZADEGAN PROJECT REF: SECSTATE 148000 Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer. Reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) Regarding Total interest in the Azadegan project, we spoke to Shin Hosaka, director of the Petroleum and Gas Division at ANRE, who said that he was not privy to INPEX's private negotiations. We noted that METI was a major shareholder in INPEX but he insisted he would be getting his information about these closed negotiations from the newspapers. He did note, however, that he did not expect the Iranians to complete the de-mining process by the September 15 deadline. ¶2. (U) Post has also attempted without success to reach Manabu Miyagawa, director of the Economic Security Division in MOFA's Economic Affairs BUreau. We will report pertinent information as we acquire it. SCHIEFFER