Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said that the French oil company, Total, has voiced preparedness to make a 12-bln-dollar investment in Iran’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an international meeting dubbed ‘Geopolitical Developments of Energy and the Role of Natural Gas’ here in Tehran on Sunday, the minister noted Total’s readiness for investments in Iran, and stressed that the US sanctions against Iran’s oil sector have produced no effect.
“I would like to say it in a straightforward manner that sanctions have left no impact on the production sector of this industry and our production capacity has grown from 4 mln to 4.150 mln barrels per day,” he said.
“In the development and implementation of projects, we strive to choose the most appropriate companies,” the minister added.
“Total is now ready to make USD12 bln of investment in Iran’s LNG project and it has never said that sanctions have posed a problem for this company. Actually the problem pertains to prices, project prices have increased and this issue has lengthened negotiations,” he said.
Nozari also said that Indian companies have voiced preparedness to launch oil exploration operations in 17 different Iranian oil blocks, adding that Iran and the Chinese Sinopec Company were likely to sign a contract for the development of Yadavaran oil field by the end of the day.
He said such cases prove the inefficiency and fruitlessness of sanctions against Tehran.
