Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh announced on Sunday the withdrawal of CNPC from the development of phase 11 of the Pars field. The project will be solely undertaken by Petrobars of the Islamic Republic.
France´s Total and CNBC of China were to cooperate with Iran´s Petrobars to develop Phase 11 of the Pars field under a $ 4.8 billion (4.1 billion euro) deal signed in July. 2017.
The deal was reached after the conclusion of a nuclear agreement between Tehran and major powers that provided for the lifting of sanctions against the Islamic Republic in return for curbing its nuclear program, ending the economic isolation suffered by the Islamic Republic for years.
Total withdrew from the project three months after US President Donald Trump´s decision to abandon the nuclear deal in May and reimpose sanctions on Iran´s oil and other vital sectors of the Islamic Republic.
"Petrobars will fully develop phase 11 (of the South Pars field project)," the Iranian Oil Ministry website quoted Zangeneh as saying.
Asked if China National Petroleum Corp abandoned the project, he replied: "Yes, I did."
The other countries involved in the nuclear deal - Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia - maintain their adherence to it despite Washington´s withdrawal, but their efforts to maintain it have not yet borne fruit.
Zangeneh said Petrobars did not take over the project from the beginning because "we wanted to attract foreign investment for this project" and the Iranian company was "supposed to benefit from the expertise of these two foreign companies."
He added that the development of a platform for enhanced pressure will depend on the talks between the Iranian group "Mapna" and other companies.
In September, Petrobras signed a $ 440 million deal with the state-owned Pars Oil and Gas Company to develop the Bilal gas field in the Gulf.
