Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of French oil major Total is committed to the development of Iran’s South Pars gas field, according to The National.
Total will seek a waiver if US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulls out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and re-imposes sanctions on Tehran. Pouyanné was speaking after signing a $1.45bn deal to acquire stakes in the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s offshore oil concessions.
“If the US decides to put back the sanctions, we have to look at what the consequences are…and then we will see, either Donald Trump decides to maintain the waivers and we will move on with the project,” Pouyanné told the Abu Dhabi based newspaper. “If the US decides not to sign the waiver, then what will be our position, it’s quite simple – as the project has been awarded prior to that decision during the period of time that we could sign … we will argue that we should benefit from the grandfather clause and we will ask for a waiver from the US authorities.”
Last July, Total was the first Western oil and gas firm to strike a deal with Iran post-economic sanctions when it signed up to develop phase 11 of the country’s South Pars field, the world’s largest gas field, in a 20 year agreement.
The project expects a production capacity of 2bn cubic feet per day or 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, including condensate. The produced gas will supply the Iranian domestic market starting in 2021.
Earlier this year, Trump set a deadline of May 12 to decide whether the US will re-impose sanctions that were lifted as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal that restrained Iran’s nuclear programme.
“Our intent is to do all that we can to execute the contract that we signed…. We have good arguments to explain…This contract, it’s a contract for domestic gas to help the people in Iran. It’s not an export contract,” added Pouyanné.
