Iran Confirms: Total Leaves South Pars

On 20 August 2018, a key Iranian official confirmed what many have expected for weeks: France’s Total is leaving the massive South Pars gas field in response to U.S. sanction threats against companies that do business in Iran.

According the Iranian parliament's official news website, the Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh said that the French company had announced its plans to withdrawn from the project two months earlier. Asked about taking over Total's share in the contract by other companies, the official said the respective process was ongoing. Previous reports suggest that co-investor China National Petroleum Corporation could to take over Total’s position.

The United States re-imposed sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers.

“The process to replace (Total) with another company is underway,” Bijan Zanganeh said, adding that Total was no longer working on its contract to develop phase 11 of the South Pars gas project.

In related news, Iran’s state oil agency says that no restrictions have emerged in Europe's oil purchases from Iran, adding, while a number of European private companies have pulled out of the country, the results of their exit “have not been very determining so far.”

By PetroEnergy Information Network