Reuters - A gas field development contract with France�s Total (TOTF.PA), and China�s state-owned CNPC remains unchanged, a senior Iranian oil official said according to the oil ministry news agency SHANA on Saturday - hours after state new agency IRNA quoted him as saying CNPC had taken Total�s share in the project.

�The role of the members of the consortium developing this project is in accordance with the provisions of the contract, and there is still no formal change in these provisions,� Mohammad Mostafavi, director of investment at Iran�s state oil firm NIOC, was quoted as saying.



IRNA earlier quoted Mostafavi as saying CNPC had taken over Total�s share in Iran�s multi-billion dollar South Pars gas project. There was no explanation for the apparent discrepancy.


Total signed a contract in 2017 to develop Phase 11 of South Pars field with an initial investment of $1 billion, marking the first major Western energy investment in the country after sanctions were lifted in 2016. South Pars has the world�s biggest natural gas reserves ever found in one place.

But the French company had said it would pull out unless it secured a U.S. sanctions waiver, and Gholamreza Manouchehri, deputy head of NIOC, said in June that if Total were to walk away, then CNPC would take over.

A spokeswoman for Total declined to comment.

Total has not said what it would do with its 50.1 percent stake should it pull out, and it has until Nov. 4 to wind down its Iran operations.

The renewed U.S. sanctions were among those lifted under a 2015 deal between world powers and Tehran on curbing Iran�s nuclear program. U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the deal in May. Washington is planning to impose heavier sanctions in November aimed at Iran�s oil sector.

There was no immediate comment on the IRNA report by CNPC, which held a 30 percent stake in the project. The remainder is held by Iran�s Petropars.


Reporting by Dubai newsroom; editing by David Stamp and Hugh Lawson