Total pulls out of Iran project

French energy company Total has officially pulled out of Iran after cancelling a £4 billion, 20-year agreement to develop the country’s South Pars offshore natural gas field.

It comes on the back of renewed US sanctions, effective from this month after president Donald Trump walked away from a nuclear deal between America and Iran.

The deal had imposed limits on Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.

Paris-based Total – employing nearly 100,000 people across operations in more than 130 countries – confirmed yesterday that it had failed to obtain a waiver from the new sanctions, which have exacerbated a financial crisis in Iran.