TEHRAN, March 9 (News Agencies) - Iran inked a major exploration deal for Caspian oil on Friday, vowing not to let the unresolved legal status of the sea stop it from claiming its share of potentially vast petrochemical reserves.
Iran signed a $226 million contract with Sweden's GVA Consultants, who will build a submersible exploration platform expected to be up and running off the town of Neka, in Mazandaran province, in just under three years.
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh told reporters after the signing ceremony that Tehran was unwilling to wait for the dispute over the Caspian's legal status to be settled before beginning its exploration work.
With other nations already looking to exploit the sea's vast oil and gas reserves, Zanganeh said, "we don't see why we shouldn't begin." He said the area could yield Iran some 20 billion barrels of oil.
GCA marketing director Robert Ludwigson said the platform would be completed in 32 months.
The signing of the deal comes ahead of a visit by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to Russia next week.
Iran and the Soviet Union were the only Caspian states until the 1991 collapse of the USSR. The USSR's breakup led to the creation of three new independent states - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan - bordering the sea.
Russia has signed bilateral agreements with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on how to divide the Caspian, but Iran has said it will refuse to accept bilateral accords if its interests are not guaranteed.
Tehran has said it wants a strictly "equitable" sharing of the Caspian, giving each country 20% regardless of the length of its coastline.
Leaders of the five littoral states had been due to meet in Turkmenistan on March 8th to try to hammer out an accord, but the meeting was postponed until April.
According to some estimates, the Caspian could contain 200 billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion cubic feet (18 trillion cubic meters) of gas reserves.
