Replacement of France's Total Underway

Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Monday France’s Total officially left Iran after the United States threatened to reimpose sanctions on companies that do business in the country. “The process to replace [Total] with another company is underway,” Zanganeh was quoted as saying on state TV by Reuters. He added that Total was no longer working on its contract to develop Phase 11 of the South Pars Gas Field. The Oil Ministry’s website Shana also quoted Zanganeh as saying that Total had announced its plans to leave more than two months ago. Iranian officials had earlier suggested China’s state-owned CNPC could take over Total’s stake in the South Pars gas project, lifting its share from 30% to more than 80% now. The US reimposed sanctions on Iran after Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers. The agreement had imposed limits on Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.