TEHRAN - The International Court of Arbitration has ruled in Iran’s favor in a lawsuit against Frances Sofregaz engineering company, Shana reported on Sunday quoting the managing director of Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company.

According to Reza Noshadi, based on the mentioned ruling, the French company is obliged to pay Iran €13 million to compensate for the termination of a deal with Iran on recovering natural gas flared at Iran’s South Pars gas field.

Sofregaz has previously opened a lawsuit against Iran and claimed that the Islamic Republic should pay €26 million in compensation to the company as it was forced to terminate its contract with Iran because of the U.S. sanctions.

Noshadi said that the case was handled by an Iranian lawyer.

According to the official, Sofregaz had only completed part of their commitment valued at €1.5 million euros in the project and the money was blocked by the Iranian government.

Frances Sofregaz and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a deal in September 2017 to recover natural gas flared at South Pars Phase 2 and 3.

The announcement was made only days after the country awarded a deal worth €42 million to a consortium led by France’s Sofregaz for a similar project at the treatment plant of South Pars Phases 2 and 3.

Sofregaz was the second French company that had won a deal in Iran's energy sector. In early July 2017, Total had also signed an agreement with NIOC to develop Iran's South Pars Phase 11.

Total, which was expected to invest around $5 billion in the project, also left the deal after the U.S. re-imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic in 2018.

EF/MA