Total Oil Company Seeks to Return to Iran

The French oil company Total announced that it intends to resume its natural gas liquefaction project in Iran if sanctions against the country are lifted. Following reports of a meeting between Iran's Minister of Oil and Total executives, the company's CEO stated that a return to Iran is possible if a nuclear agreement is reached between Iran and the P5+1 group and sanctions are removed. According to the Russian news agency RT, Patrick Pouyanné also mentioned that it is necessary to first see what happens in the political arena. News reports indicate that Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, Iran's Minister of Oil, recently held separate meetings with executives from other oil companies, including Total, Russia's Lukoil, and BP (British Petroleum), discussing the new format of Iran's oil contracts with them. According to the Iranian Minister of Oil, the new oil and gas contracts are highly attractive to foreign investors. Meanwhile, according to a Bloomberg report, ExxonMobil has also increased its efforts in recent weeks to assess the future of U.S. sanctions against Iran and the possibility of their adjustment following a nuclear agreement. In May, reports emerged of a delegation from American oil companies visiting Iran, but Jeff Rathke, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, responded to these reports by stating that it is still too early for trade with Iran. The CEO of Total also referred to the company's long history of cooperation with Iran, stating that if the company returns to Iran, it will resume work on the natural gas liquefaction plant that was halted in 2009. Christophe de Margerie, the former CEO of Total, had stated in 2010 that the company ceased trading oil products with Iran due to EU and French sanctions against the country. The EU imposed additional sanctions against Iran in 2010, which included prohibiting 'new investments, technical assistance, and the transfer of technology, equipment, and services related to these areas, especially in refining, liquefaction, and LNG technology.' Meanwhile, the Iranian LNG company announced in 2013 that it had filed a complaint against the EU due to sanctions imposed on the company, but no report on the outcome of this complaint has been published to date. The importance of LNG production lies in its ability to diversify the type of exported gas, eliminating the need to construct thousands of kilometers of pipelines for gas export and reducing the risks associated with long-term gas sale contracts.