TEHRAN – The spokesman for the Iranian parliament’ presiding board made assurances that France’s energy giant Total will never leave its major gas deal with Tehran. In remarks released on Saturday, Behrouz Nemati said the agreement with Total has been signed and its implementation process is underway according to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. […]
TEHRAN – The spokesman for the Iranian parliament’ presiding board made assurances that France’s energy giant Total will never leave its major gas deal with Tehran.
In remarks released on Saturday, Behrouz Nemati said the agreement with Total has been signed and its implementation process is underway according to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh.
Given that the agreement and other oil and gas deals are within the framework of the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC), the needed guarantees have been taken from the investor companies, he added.
The parliamentarian went on to say that if Total wants to cancel the deal with Iran, it has to pay compensation to the country.
Nemati further expressed confidence that the French energy giant will never leave the agreement.
The remarks came as Total Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said US President Donald Trump’s new aggressive approach to Iran could kill the huge energy investment the French oil and gas major signed with Tehran just four months ago.
“Either we can do the deal legally if there is a legal framework,” Pouyanné told CNN on Monday.
“If we cannot do that for legal reasons, because of (a) change of (the) regime of sanctions, then we have to revisit it,” he added.
He made the comments after Trump unveiled a tough and comprehensive new policy towards Iran last month, accused Tehran of violating the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, and announced that he would no longer certify the accord.
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.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached the 159-page nuclear agreement in July 2015 and implemented it in January 2016.
Since the historic deal was signed in Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly confirmed the Islamic Republic’s compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA, but some other parties, especially the US, have failed to live up to their undertakings.
