China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is mulling the taking over of the majority stake in an Iranian gas project from Total if the French company walks out of Iran to comply with possible new U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported on Friday, citing industry sources. In July this year Total signed a contract to develop phase 11 of the South Pars gas field in Iran—the world’s biggest gas field—marking the first Iranian Petroleum Contract (IPC) with a Western major since most sanctions on Iran were lifted. Total holds a 50.1-percent interest and is the operator of the South Pars 11 (SP11) project, while CNPC has 30 percent, and Petropars, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), owns the remaining 19.9 percent. However, after U.S. President did not certify in October that Iran was complying with the terms of the nuclear deal, now the U.S. Congress has to […]