Rouhani: $200 Billion Oil and Gas Projects Ready for Foreign Investment

The President of Iran announced during a meeting with the CEO of the French company Total that his government’s policy is to collaborate with major oil companies, stating that $200 billion worth of projects in the oil and gas sector are ready for foreign investment. According to the state news agency IRNA, Hassan Rouhani, on Tuesday, July 2, in a meeting with Patrick Pouyanné, the CEO of Total, referred to the Vienna nuclear agreement and said that the political will from the Iranian side and the P5+1 countries led to the agreement with Total for the development of Phase 11 of South Pars. Rouhani considered Total's leadership in the oil and gas sector in Iran after the Vienna nuclear agreement as 'expected' and emphasized that his government's policy is to collaborate with large companies like Total. He stressed that about $200 billion worth of projects in the oil and gas sector are ready for investment and that large foreign companies can participate in these projects. Bijan Zanganeh, Iran's Minister of Oil, had previously announced that Iran needs $130 billion for upstream oil industry activities, including exploration and extraction, and $70 billion for downstream activities such as petrochemicals, modernization, and building new refineries. The Iran-Total contract is the first agreement based on Iran's new oil contract model known as 'IPC', which is signed with foreign companies. Iran introduced new oil and gas contracts to foreign companies in the fall of 2015, but opposition from conservatives and the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic has delayed the implementation of 'IPC' until now. Meanwhile, Alireza Zakani, a conservative member of the ninth parliament, severely criticized the Iran-Total contract on Tuesday, stating that the Supreme Leader's objections to the new oil contract model have not been resolved. Nevertheless, the Minister of Oil announced that a seven-member delegation, including representatives from the Supreme National Security Council, the presidency, the auditing organization, and four former oil ministers, has approved this contract. In this context, Total and Iran signed a $4.8 billion contract for South Pars.