![](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/11\/bp.jpg\" "\\"bp\\"")
Bloomberg – Nov 4 – BP Plc said production at its North Sea Rhum natural-gas field will halt next week to ensure compliance with European Union sanctions against Iran.<\/p>\nBloomberg – Nov 4 – BP Plc said production at its North Sea Rhum natural-gas field will halt next week to ensure compliance with European Union sanctions against Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cPending clarification from the government and to ensure we comply with the required notification period in the regulations, preparations to suspend production are underway,\u201d Matt Taylor, a spokesman for BP based in Aberdeen, Scotland, said in an e-mailed statement. \u201cFrom the middle of next week there will be no production from Rhum.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rhum field, 240 miles (370 kilometers) off Scotland\u2019s northern coast, is a 50:50 venture with Iranian Oil Co. U.K. Ltd., a unit of Tehran-based Naftiran Intertrade Co.<\/p>\n
The EU published regulations on Oct. 27 intended to restrict Iranian business activities and prevent European technology from helping its nuclear program. BP will review the closure when it\u2019s received government clarification on the rules, Taylor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny reduction in gas supply is bad news,\u201d Graham Freedman, a senior analyst at Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd. in London, said today by telephone. \u201cIt will tighten the market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freedman said Rhum meets about 2 percent of gas demand on an average U.K. winter\u2019s day. A current gas glut means the impact of Rhum\u2019s closure will be \u201climited,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Stake<\/strong><\/p>\n Iranian Oil will discuss the sale of its stake in Rhum at a board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, next week or the week after, Hojat Heidari, the company\u2019s executive director, said by telephone from Aberdeen today.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the board is interested in selling to BP,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n U.K. North Sea gas production is declining at a rate of about 10 percent a year, data from the Department of Energy and Climate Change show. Britain, Europe\u2019s biggest gas user, is increasingly turning to tanker-borne imports of liquefied gas to meet demand.<\/p>\n Rhum was discovered in 1977 and production from the high- pressure-high-temperature field began in 2005. The unmanned deposit pumps as much as 6 million cubic meters of gas a day, along with some liquids, and cost 350 million pounds ($566 million) to develop, according to BP\u2019s website.<\/p>\n Gas from the field passes through the Bruce platform, about 30 miles away, and is transported via Total SA\u2019s Frigg pipeline on to the St. Fergus terminal in Northern Scotland. Output from Bruce wouldn\u2019t be affected by the closure of Rhum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bloomberg – Nov 4 – BP Plc said production at its North Sea Rhum natural-gas field will halt next week to ensure compliance with European Union sanctions against Iran. “Pending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-9200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-economy","7":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n