Iran signed a preliminary deal on Wednesday for a consortium of international companies to develop an oilfield, the first such contract since Washington withdrew from a nuclear agreement and said it would reinstate sanctions on Tehran. National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) signed a so-called heads of agreement (HOA) with London-based Pergas, the oil ministry’s news agency SHANA said. The consortium will aim to produce 655 million barrels of oil from the Keranj field in Khuzestan province, southwest Iran, over the next 10 years, SHANA said. British Ambassador to Tehran Rob Macaire and Pergas managing director Colin Rowley were present at the signing ceremony in Tehran, it added. “We hope that the UK government … endorses the agreement,” Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying by SHANA. Zanganeh added that he expected European countries to make up for the U.S. “betrayal” of the nuclear […]