Total’s deal over the development of the next phase of Iran’s huge South Pars gas field was announced in Tehran on Monday to coincide with President Emmanuel Macron’s State of the Nation address at Versailles.
Total’s deal over the development of the next phase of Iran’s huge South Pars gas field was announced in Tehran on Monday to coincide with President Emmanuel Macron’s State of the Nation address at Versailles. The deal is a sign of both France’s renewed self-confidence and the ever-changing dynamics of politics in the Middle East. For the international oil and gas business, it marks the beginning of re-engagement in Iran after almost 40 years of exclusion.
Having been mildly critical of one of France’s large companies last week, it is good to be able to praise another one. Total has shown the nerve to ignore the hostility to Iran displayed by the US administration. President Donald Trump has roundly criticised his predecessor Barack Obama’s deal to control Iranian nuclear developments but has offered nothing in its place. Continuing US sanctions and the threat of more attempts to isolate Iran have kept most western companies away. Total has decided not to fall in line.
The French company’s investment is not that big — $5bn to be spent over the next few years as a more than 50 per cent stakeholder in the development project alongside CNPC from China and Petropas — a subsidiary of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company. But it should be seen as just the beginning as much bigger opportunities open up in the country.