French oil major Total plans to conclude negotiations with the Iranian petroleum ministry for its planned multi-billion dollar investment into the giant South Pars gas field before summer, the company's chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said on the sidelines of the OPEC annual meeting in Vienna on May 26, Reuters reported.
Talks were held up while Total waited to see whether the Trump administration would renew Obama-era waivers on sanctions imposed on Tehran. The waivers are linked to the November 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers. The White House and US State Department agreed to the waivers on May 17.
Ranked as the world's largest gas field, South Pars is shared by Iran and Qatar.
Pouyanne met with Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh on the sidelines of the OPEC meeting.
Several other oil majors also met with the minister at the event.
Iran is looking to hold its first-ever auctions to award foreign companies deals on developing oil and natural gas fields. It is targeting around $100bn of investment.
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