Iran’s landmark gas deal with French energy firm Total is moving ahead, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in a statement, lending confidence to the country’s biggest energy contract since the lifting of sanctions in Jan. 2016.
Total signed a $5-billion deal in July last year to develop an offshore section of South Pars, the world’s largest gas field shared by Iran and Qatar in the Persian Gulf.
However, US President Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine Tehran’s nuclear deal have sowed concern that Iran’s improving economic relations with the world, including its partnership with Total, could face a setback.
“The gas deal with Total is moving ahead with no delay and all the subcontracts, except those related to drilling, are taking place,” Zanganeh was quoted as saying by ICANA, the parliament’s news service.
Trump on Friday waived US sanctions against Iran, a decision that should be taken every 120 days, but threatened it would be the last time he would suspend the sanctions unless European countries join the US to renegotiate the nuclear accord.