TEHRAN: China’s state oil company has pulled out of a $5-billion deal to develop a portion of Iran’s massive offshore natural gas field, the Islamic Republic’s oil minister said on Sunday, an agreement from which France’s Total earlier withdrew over US sanctions.
The South Pars field deal, struck in the wake of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, appears to be just the latest business casualty of America’s pressure campaign on Tehran following President Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of the US from the deal.
Oil minister Bijan Zangeneh, quoted by the ministry’s SHANA news agency, said on Sunday that the China National Petroleum Corp. was “no longer in the project”. Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif separately complained on Sunday about the US campaign against Tehran and its impact on foreign investments.
