Total will lose entire investment if it pulls out of South Pars: Zanganeh
France’s Total will lose all of its investment if it pulls out of a deal with Iran to develop South Pars, the world’s largest gas field, said Iran’s oil minister on Tuesday. “If Total, without the enforcement of Security Council sanctions, announces that it has the intention to leave the contract, no capital will be returned to this company and no sum will be transferred to the company,” Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was quoted as saying by Shana.
Total signed a deal with Tehran in July to develop Phase 11 of South Pars Gas Field, marking the first major Western energy investment in the Islamic Republic since the lifting of sanctions.
However, Total’s Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said last week that the oil major would have to review its Iran gas project if the United States decided to impose unilateral sanctions on Tehran, given Total’s assets in the US.
The US Congress is due to decide within about a month whether to reinstate sanctions on Iran, after US President Donald Trump refused to formally certify that Tehran was complying with the nuclear deal.
Zanganeh said Total has pledged €56 million ($66 million) for the South Pars project and work is progressing as specified in the contract.
Total will be the operator with a 50.1-percent stake, along with Chinese state-owned oil and gas company CNPC with 30 percent, and National Iranian Oil Company subsidiary Petropars with 19.9 percent.
Separately, the Managing Director of the Iranian Gas Transmission Company, Saeed Tavakoli, said on Tuesday that Iran exported 5.4 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey between March and September. In the Iranian year, which began in March 2016 and ended in March 2017, Iran exported eight billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey, Shana quoted Tavakoli as saying.
On average, Iran exports 30 million cubic meters of gas per day to Turkey, Tavakoli said.