Scottish enterprise has urged oil service companies not to give up doing business in the energy-rich Caspian Sea, despite mounting political tensions in the region over oil rights.

Scottish Enterprise head of energy, Aberdeen-based Kourosh Bassiti, said the current row between Iran and Azerbaijan over territorial rights in the Caspian must not be blown out of proportion and that foreign contractors were not under threat. His comments follow last week’s incident when an Iranian gunboat fired a warning shot at a survey vessel working for oil giant BP in contested waters, and a boundary row erupting almost simultaneously between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. Bassiti said the energy industry had an ability to carry on doing business, despite such difficulties. He pointed to the decades of problems that have persisted in the Persian Gulf, and yet it remained business as usual for the oil sector. He added that the dispute between Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan over how to divide up Caspian spoils had dragged on for decades. The likelihood was that it would for many years more. He said that, while Iran was laying claim to by far the smallest piece of the Caspian Sea, in oil and gas terms it could be the richest. Bassiti said the US embargo against Iran continued to give European companies the edge in the Caspian, regardless of who they were doing business with. "There are still good business opportunities for Scottish companies," he added. Like Bassiti, Daniel Dzurek, head of International Boundary Consultants in Washington, which advises companies and governments on territorial disputes, does not see an early solution. Dzurek said the issue could go to the International Court of Justice, but this would need everyone’s agreement to proceed. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that any use of force in the region was unacceptable.