French oil giant Total ready to resume coop. with Iran

Deputy Oil Minister Rokneddin Javadi said on Monday that National Iranian Oil Company welcomes the development of economic cooperation with the French oil company Total. “The new agreements will create good opportunities in exploration, development, maintenance, production and enhanced oil recovery projects in which foreign companies are welcome to participate,” he said  

Javadi met with the President of Exploration & Production at Total, Arnaud Breuillac, on Sunday and discussed various fields of cooperation with the French side.

Also on Sunday, Arnaud Breuillac held talks in separate meetings with Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh and Head of Iran Oil Contract Workgroup Seyed Mehdi Hosseini, during which he expressed his readiness to cooperate with Iran’s oil industry in various fields including exploration, Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), oil purchase, production of LNG and petrochemical marketing.

The visit of the French delegation comes just a month after Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius traveled to Iran and met with the Iranian oil minister as well as a number of other officials.

“Total has been present in Iran’s oil projects for more than 20 years and in view of the intent expressed by the French, a new door is supposed to open for the expansion of the company’s activities in developing Iranian oilfields,” Zangeneh had said after meeting Fabius on July 30. 

There are hopes that the participation of French top companies such as Total and Peugeot would help restore business relations between Iran and France – a country which took a tough line on Iran during nuclear discussions.

Following the conclusion of nuclear negotiations with the 5+1 in the Austrian capital of Vienna in July, Iran has hosted various delegations especially from European countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Serbia, Austria, Czech, Spain and Ukraine.

The French trade-economic delegation which is said to be comprised of about 130 firms, including top companies such as Total and Peugeot and accompanied by trade and agriculture ministers, arrived in Tehran Monday with the aim of encouraging future trade deals.

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