Total eyes up Iranian petrochemicals with $10b development package
Just months after signing a $5bn deal to participate in the development of Iran's giant offshore South Pars gas field, the French energy major Total is set to invest a further $10bn in the development of its petrochemical industry, an advisor to Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said yesterday.
"The investment deal is going through the final phases and will be signed soon," Movaied Hossaini Sadr told the state-owned IRINN news channel, adding that two Germany companies - BASF and Linde - and an unspecified Japanese firm were also actively considering investing in the industry. Iran’s current capacity for producing petrochemical products stands at 60 million tons and the country is drawing up plans to almost double that figure to 110 million tons.
In July, Total became the first European oil company after more than a decade of sanctions to sign a contract with Tehran when it led a consortium to develop Phase 11 of South Pars, the largest natural gas field in the world. Total took a 50.1% stake in the project, and along with China's CNPC (30%) and Iran's Petropars (19.9%), plans to begin gas production for the Iranian market from 2021.
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