TEHRAN, June 17 (Reuters) – China should fulfil its duties in developing a phase of Iran’s South Pars gas field or the contract would be cancelled, the semi-official Mehr news agency on Friday quoted the country’s top oil company as saying.
Tehran signed a $4.7 billion contract with China National Petroleum Corporation [CNPET.UL] (CNPC) in 2009 to help develop phase 11 of South Pars, replacing France’s Total SA (TOTF.PA: Quote) which it had accused of repeated delays.
Mehr said the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) had warned that it would “replace CNPC with domestic companies” if the Chinese corporation continued to delay the project.
Iran has the second biggest gas reserves in the world after Russia, but sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme and other factors have slowed its development as a major exporter.
