Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri underlined that the country's contract with France's giant oil company, Total, to develop the phase 11 of the South Pars was the failure of the US sanctions policy against Tehran.
The Americans imposed sanctions against Iran and emphasized that no one dares to invest over $20million in the Iranian oil industry and this contract should be regarded as their defeat and the failure of those sanctions preventing investment in Iran, Jahangiri said on Wednesday.
"Our priority will be given to the country’s economic development," he added.
Earlier this month, Iran signed a $5 billion agreement with France’s Total SA and a Chinese oil company to develop its massive offshore natural gas field, the first such deal with foreign companies since the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
Officials signed the agreement in Tehran. The agreement will see the firms develop a portion of the massive South Pars offshore field, which Iran shares with Qatar.
Total has a 50.1-percent share in the deal. The state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. has 30-percent stake and Iran’s Petropars has 19.9 percent.
The deal includes 30 wells and two production units.
Officials anticipate the deal will see gas production increase to nearly 600 million cubic meters from the current 540 million cubic meters.