UPI Energy Watch

Iran struggles as the West pulls away from investing.

Government officials from Iran said the country is capable of completing its Anaran oil project without the help of Norway-based StatoilHydro. Statoil recently announced it would finish its current investments but would not be involved in any future investment projects in Iran, the Fars News Agency reported.

Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said Iran did not need any more investment and that he thought Statoil made its announcement due to pressure from the United States.

StatoilHydro was previously in talks to develop and invest in the Anaran project in the Azar oil field in Iran before it announced it would stop future investments. Statoil Chief Executive Helge Lund reiterated the firm would honor its current contracts.

Nozari, however, was contradicted by the investment head of the National Iranian Oil Co., who said Iran will need $8 billion to buy enough imported oil and is working on 15 new projects to attract investment.

France's Total has said that it will stop future investments in Iran, but Shell announced it will not stop its activity in the South Pars gas field.

Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, but sanctions and lost investment have hurt its oil and gas industries.

Shell to construct gas plant in Nigeria.

Despite the violence and tension, the management of Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria announced it signed a contract with engineering company Hanover Nigeria Ltd. to build a gas processing facility at Gbaran.

The plant will process and supply fuel gas to the nearby national integrated power plant which is owned by the government.

Nigeria is expected to earn more than $22 billion in revenue from the project, which is about half complete, a spokesman for Shell said.

Once the project is completed -- expected in the third quarter of 2009 -- it is projected to provide about 80 million cubic feet of gas per day.

Tropical storms stabilized oil prices Tuesday.

The price of crude oil fell for the 18th straight day Monday. Speculators and market analysts said the decrease can be attributed to a slowing demand as well as hopes that Tropical Storm Eduoard will bypass key oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, The Telegraph reported.

U.S. demand has continued to slow since the beginning of the summer, and even though China's demand is growing, the rate of growth has slowed, said Mike Wittner, the head of oil research at Societe Generale.

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Closing oil prices, Aug. 5, 3 p.m. London

Brent crude oil: $124.32

West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $125.01

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(e-mail: energy@upi.com)