Japan faces deadline on oil field

The government of Japan said Tuesday that it would enter talks with Iran to resolve a dispute over delays at the $2.5 billion Azadegan oil drilling project operated by the Japanese state-run firm, Inpex Holdings.

Iran is struggling to compensate for the depletion of its older oil fields through new discoveries. The country needs to add as much as 400,000 barrels of new daily oil output each year to keep production even, the state oil company said last year. Officials from Iran and China said Monday that the countries had agreed to develop reserves in the Islamic republic’s southwest.
International Herald Tribune