French energy giant Total will finally sign
its multi-billion-dollar agreement to develop an Iranian offshore gas
field on Monday (Jul 3), the oil ministry said, in the biggest foreign
deal since sanctions were eased last year.
"The international
agreement for the development of phase 11 of South Pars will be signed
on Monday in the presence of the oil ministry and managers of Total, the
Chinese company CNPC and Iranian company Petropars," a ministry
spokesman told AFP.
Total signed a preliminary deal with Iran in
November, taking a 50.1 per cent stake in the US$4.8 billion (€4.2
billion) project.
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) will own 30 per cent and Petropars 19.9 per cent.
Total will put in an initial US$1 billion for the first stage of the 20-year project.
The gas produced will "feed into the domestic Iranian market starting from 2021," a Total spokesman told AFP in Paris.
The
contract was initially due to be signed in early 2017, but CEO Patrick
Pouyanne said in February that Total would wait to see whether the US
adminstration of President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran.
Trump
threatened during his campaign to tear up the landmark accord between
Iran and six world powers that came into force in January 2016 and eased
sanctions in exchange for curbs to Tehran's nuclear programme.
His
administration has taken a tough line on Iran and imposed fresh
sanctions related to its ballistic missile programme and military
activities in the region.
But the White House has kept the nuclear deal alive, continuing to
waive the relevant sanctions every few months as required under the
agreement.
It is partway through a 90-day review on whether to
uphold the deal, although any move to abandon it would be strongly
opposed by the other signatories - Britain, France, Germany, China and
Russia.
