June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Iran, holder of the world's fifth- largest oil reserves, expects a contract with Japan to tap the Middle East nation's biggest oil find in 35 years may be delayed by intervention from U.S. officials, a government minister said.

Tomen Corp., based in Osaka, and two units of Japan's state oil company may invest 300 billion yen ($2.5 billion) to pump 300,000 barrels a day over two decades from the Azadegan field. Tahmasb Mazaheri, Iran's minister of economic affairs and finance, said talks are continuing.

``To the best of my knowledge, the final text of the contract has not been prepared,'' he told reporters during a conference in London. ``The U.S. has done its best to prevent the Iranian economy from growing.''

The U.S. contends Iran's pursuit of commercial nuclear power disguises a weapons program and it's pressing other countries to help block the effort. United Nations inspectors earlier this month were denied access to a nuclear power plant in the capital, Tehran. Iran says that it is developing commercial power.

Iran and the Japanese companies were close to an agreement on Azadegan and wanted an accord by today, people familiar with the talks told Bloomberg News on Friday. The field may have as much as 6 billion barrels of recoverable oil, analysts estimate.

Foreign Money

Under U.S. sanctions that limit possible investment, Iran needs foreign cash to expand its oil industry to meet rising demand. Mazaheri said that he hoped U.S. intervention would fail in the efforts to reach an agreement on Azadegan.

Talks between Iran and the Japanese companies, who won priority negotiating rights on the field in 2000, are already behind schedule. Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh in October said Iran planned to finish the negotiations before April 2003.

Contracts worth as much as $8 billion may be reached this year to develop Iran's South Pars gas field, the largest in the world, the minister told the conference. Speaking to reporters, he declined to specify any companies that might win contracts.

Total SA of France and Norway's Statoil ASA are among the European companies working at Iranian fields. U.S. companies are barred from most investment in Iran, which the U.S. accuses of sponsoring terrorism. Both Iran and U.S. companies lose because of the embargo, the minister said.

Last Updated: June 30, 2003 09:48 EDT