Iran Will Pay 2 U.S. Oil Firms $260 Million

Iran has agreed to pay Atlantic Richfield Co. and another U.S. oil company $130 million each to end a decade-long dispute over oil production rights in the Persian Gulf, the companies said Tuesday.

Sun Co. and Arco claimed that the Iranian government had seized their offshore oil field after the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.

Under the agreement, the companies would not be allowed to return to Iran, Sun spokesman Bud Davis said. The deal must be approved by the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal at The Hague in the Netherlands. Davis said approval is expected within 75 days.

Over the last decade, the nine-judge tribunal has awarded more than $2 billion in claims arising from the Iranian revolution and the subsequent expropriation and freezing of assets.

Arco spokesman Scott Loll said the settlement resolved the last of three claims against Iran, all related to rights and assets taken from the Los Angeles company between 1978 and 1980.

“I think that Iran is probably looking to improve its relations with the U.S. by resolving outstanding claims with U.S. companies,” Loll said. “It appears to be an effort to normalize relations.”

The payments would come from an Iranian security account established as part of the 1981 Algiers Accords, which brought freedom to 52 American hostages held for 444 days at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

The disputed oil field, which had produced 200,000 barrels a day, is in Iranian waters near the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi.

Sun and Arco each controlled 12.5% of Lavan Petroleum Co., a joint venture with two other U.S. companies and the National Iranian Oil Co.

The other two American companies--Unocal Corp. of Los Angeles and Murphy Oil Corp. of El Dorado, Ark.--had settled with Iran and its oil company in 1986 for about $36 million each.