SWEDISH RESPONSE: GVA CONSULTANTS SAY THEY

C O N F I D E N T I A L STOCKHOLM 000747 SIPDIS STATE FOREEB/ESC (THAMMANG),EEB/TFS (CBACKEMEYER) AND NEA/IR (RWADHANI) E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/29/2019 TAGS: ECON ENRG EPET ETTC PREL IR SW SUBJECT: SWEDISH RESPONSE: GVA CONSULTANTS SAY THEY CANCELED REPORTED INVESTMENT IN THE IRANIAN OIL AND GAS SECTOR REF: STATE 121808 Classified By: Economic Counselor Laura Kirkconnel for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On November 30, Emboff shared reftel points on reported investment in the Iranian oil and gas sector with Per Saland, Sanctions Coordinator, Department for Security Policy at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA),and Holger Eriksson, Managing Director of the Swedish company GVA Consultants, a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.S. company KBR. Saland thanked Post for providing this information and for being "completely transparent" regarding the contact with GVA Consultants. He added that he has "no information or particular comment on the matter." ¶2. (C) GVA Managing Director Holger Eriksson commented that his company had provided "drawings for underwater drilling activities" to Iran as part of a contract entered into in March 2001, but which GVA Consultants "canceled in May 2009." Eriksson said that he would send the questions regarding the specific activities that had been pursued in Iran to the KBR legal department based in the UK, and that they would reply to Post. Post will report the KBR response septel. BARZUN