Europeans eager to push ahead with Iran projects

European companies are interested in pushing ahead with Iran contracts despite the decertification of the landmark Iran nuclear deal by US President Donald Trump.

French oil and gas major Total announced that it will continue its Iran gas project even if the United States decides to slap unilateral sanctions on Tehran, Reuters reported. Total’s Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne told International Oil Daily that the company would wait to see the consequences of Trump’s decision, and if there are any laws obliging it to withdraw from Iran, it will comply. “If Iran is compliant, if the European Union and China and Russia continue to consider that the JCPOA can be applied, then that means the US would have to take unilateral sanctions,” Pouyanne said.

“We will try on our side to obtain the comfort that we can continue the project, which will be our priority,” he added.

Total became the first Western oil major to sign an agreement with Iran to develop Phase 11 of Iran’s South Pars, the world’s largest gas field. Total is the operator of the $5-billion project with a 50.1 percent stake.

“We have launched the tenders, we are supposed to award contracts by yearend, so all that is fitting well in terms of the calendar,” Pouyanne said, adding that it will have clarity by the end of the year after the decision by the US Congress.

Pouyanne said in October 3 that he was aware it would be a ‘bumpy’ road when he signed a multibillion-dollar deal in July to develop South Pars, in what was the first big energy contract in more than a decade between Iran and a European company. “We knew when we signed that it will not be an easy road,” Pouyanne said. “But I prefer to have a problem to solve and to have the opportunity rather than having not signed [and] no opportunities.”

Pouyanne said Total was also interested in investing in the second phase of an Arctic liquid natural gas project on Russia’s Yamal Peninsula being led by Novatek — the Russian gas producer.