TEHRAN, March 11 (UPI) -- Iranian oil officials Wednesday expressed frustration with a decision by Total to suspend activity at a portion of the South Pars natural gas field.
Seifollah Jashnsaz, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Co., said his company was not satisfied with Total's performance but hoped for new arrangements, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reports.
Total, under pressure from Washington, has made no progress on developing Phase 11 of South Pars despite positive work on Phases 2 and 3, the director said.
Total and its partners in South Pars, Russia's Gazprom and Malaysia's Petronas, in 2002 announced Phases 2 and 3 were brought online with an estimated peak production capacity of 2 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
Jashnsaz said Total has asked Iran to find another partner to develop Phase 11 due to economic sanctions imposed on Iran because of its controversial nuclear program.
Iran in February bragged that Total would sign a $5 billion contract near the end of March to develop South Pars.
