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Iran signs first energy contract since nuclear deal

Iran's first energy deal since the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions on the country is a major breakthrough in the development of the massive South Pars gas field.
Ali Kardor (2-L), Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and CEO of French energy company Total (C-L), Ezzatollah Akbari (3-R), Managing Director of Petropars Group and CNPC International president Lyu Gongxun (2-R) sign an offshore gas field agreement in Tehran, on July 3, 2017.
French energy giant Total defied US pressure, signing a multi-billion-dollar gas deal with Iran, the first by a European firm in more than a decade. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE

Two years after it agreed to reduce its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions, Iran has signed its first energy deal. France’s Total SA and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) agreed to a $5 billion deal to develop Phase 11 of Iran’s South Pars offshore gas field, one of the largest in the world.

Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh hailed the deal, attributing it to both the nuclear deal and the presidential election that gave President Hassan Rouhani a second term. Zanganeh also said July 3 that Iran would not be opposed to signing energy deals with the United States; however, it is the Americans themselves who do not want to.

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