Iran and Total are in the final stages of hammering out a long-delayed gas deal, focusing on the South Pars gas field’s 11th phase.
The French company signed a draft agreement with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in November 2016, but announced in February 2017 that a final decision on the deal hinged on the new US administration renewing sanctions waivers on Iran.
The South Pars 11 project will have a production capacity of 1.8 billion cubic feet per day, or 370,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that Total has begun separate negotiations with Iran to have a share of the country’s lucrative petrochemical industry.
In February, Managing Director of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Marziyeh Shahdaei said Iran was in talks with Total, Germany’s BASF and Britain’s Shell on investment in the country’s petrochemical industry.
According to her, the talks with Total were focused on construction of a petrochemical plant for producing Ethylene and Polyethylene.
There has been growing enthusiasm for cooperation with Iran in the energy industry since the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a lasting nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), took effect in January 2016.