MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th November, 2018) China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has officially replaced France's Total oil company in the development of the Iranian South Pars 11 (SP11) gas project, Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh confirmed on Sunday, adding that the Chinese oil giant had not launched any activities related to the project yet.
In August, media reported, citing the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), that CNPC had taken over Total's share in SP11 after the French giant quit the project amid the reinstatement of US sanctions against Iran.
"The Chinese CNPC officially replaced Total in the South Pars 11 project, however, it actually has not started working yet. Talks should be held with CNPC to find out when it will begin its work," the minister told the Icana news agency.
The South Pars is the largest gas field in the world, according to Iran's Petropars oil company, which is located in the Persian Gulf and accounts for nearly half of all gas reserves of Iran. The gas exploitation in the field has been divided into 24 phases.
Total, CNPC and Iran's Petropars, a NIOC subsidiary, signed a 20-year contract for the development of the 11th phase of the South Pars in 2017. Initially, Total was set to lead the project, holding the majority of its shares � 50.1 percent � while CNPC had 30 percent and Petropars received the remaining 19.9 percent. In July, the French company said that it had left Iran because Total had not been granted a waiver from the US sanctions against Tehran, which are aimed at hurting Iran's oil industry, among other things.
On November 5, a second package of US sanction against Tehran came into effect following the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in May. The sanctions are aimed at exercising maximum pressure on Iran and force it to negotiate a new nuclear deal. As part of its campaign, the United States wants all countries to eventually reduce their oil imports from Iran to zero, delivering a hard blow to Iran's economy.
