TEHRAN – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said CNPC’s leaving South Pars deal would be a violation of the contract and Iran will act accordingly, IRNA reported.

In an interview with the national television on Wednesday, the official noted that since the Chinese company is the second biggest shareholder in the contract, when Total left they were to take over based on the terms of the contract otherwise it would be a breach of contract and we will deal with it according to our contractual rights.

Earlier in November, Zanganeh had said that China’s state-owned CNPC had officially replaced France’s Total in Iran’s multibillion-dollar South Pars gas project.

Total signed a contract in 2017 to develop Phase 11 of South Pars field with an initial investment of $1 billion, marking the first major Western energy investment in the country after sanctions were lifted in 2016.

The company was pressured to leave Iran after the United States threatened to impose sanctions on companies that do business in the country.

The offshore South Pars field holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves ever found in one place.

EF/MA