France's oil major Total SA will likely finalize the deal for the development of a large natural gas project in Iran in less than a month, having seen some "positive" signs from the U.S. concerning the sanctions on Iran, Iranian news agency ISNA quoted Iran's Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs and Trade, Amir Hossein Zamaninia, as saying on Sunday.
Total was waiting to see any "positive" developments in the U.S. regarding the sanctions on Tehran, "those developments took place and Total will continue negotiating with Iran on a final agreement over the project," ISNA quoted Zamaninia as saying.
Total signed in November 2016 a preliminary deal to invest billions of dollars in the development of the giant South Pars gas field in Iran, becoming the first western major to sign up for investing in Iranian oil and gas since the international sanctions on Iran were lifted in January 2016.
Total is leading a consortium to develop phase 11 of the South Pars gas field, expected to have a production capacity of 1.8 billion cubic feet per day, or 370,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, the French company said, adding that its interest in the project is 50.1 percent.
In February 2017, Total's chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said that the French major was waiting for an extension of the waiver on U.S. sanctions against Iran before it makes the final decision on a $2.2-billion investment in the South Pars 11 project.
Related: Exxon Attempts To Maneuver Around Russian Sanctions
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, that Iran had so far complied with the nuclear deal it agreed to, but the Islamic Republic continues to sponsor terrorism, and an interagency review will evaluate whether continuing to lift sanctions would be in U.S. national security interests.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More