TEHRAN – Total and other consortium members will not be facing any banking problems in their gas deal recently signed with Iran, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told IRNA on Saturday.

“Their payments to the contractors won’t even enter Iran’s financial system. So, how could they face any problems?” the minister said.

Despite the enforcement of the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and world powers, some sanctions-related problems created by west-imposed sanctions are still in place and foreign banks are cautious about cooperating with Iran.

Earlier this month, Iran signed a deal with Total and China’s state-owned National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) for development of phase 11 of its South Pars gas field.

The $4.879-billion deal was signed by National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), as the contractor of project, and a consortium of companies comprising Total, CNPC and Iran’s Petropars.

The project will have a production capacity of about 56 million cubic meters per day of gas or 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day including condensate. 

EF/MA