Being the first to be signed in the new format of Iran’s oil contracts which lead to technology transfer to Iran, the Total deal is considered a turning-point to start a new era in the Iranian oil industry.

The deal is to be signed by Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh, the Total and other beneficiary managers.

The primary agreement to develop South Pars 11 project was signed on November 8, 2016 between the NIOC and the mentioned consortium, including the Total, the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Petropars, with the presence of Zangeneh, President Middle-East and North Africa of Total Exploration and Production Stephane Michel, and CEO of CNPC Middle East Zhu Junfeng.

The deal is the biggest natural gas contract Iran has signed after the January 2016 nuclear deal with G6 to lift the sanctions on Iran.

Jalali Amin further told reporters that the credit will be spent on the project for establishment of a tunnel for transfer of sewage in the western part of the capital city (the Western Tehran Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and on sewage treatment center in Southwestern part of the city.

The official said the IDB has thus far paid portion of the cash and the rest will be provided gradually as the project advances.

Ministry of Petroleum on Tuesday quoted Shahdaie as saying, “In case of a final agreement, Total will invest up to two billion dollars in Iran’s petrochemical industries.”

Outlining talks between National Petrochemical Company (NPC) of Iran and French Total Company for establishment of new petchem facilities in Iran, Shahdaie said based on the latest talks, the petrochemical facilities will operate with the capacity to yield about 2.2 million tons of petrochemical and polymer products annually.

She announced that for the time being, agreement has been reached for establishment of two facilities for production of a special grade of polyethylene, each facility running with 500,000 tons annual production capacity.

Shahdaie added that furthermore, agreement has been reached for construction of a cracker ethane facility to turn ethane into ethylene – 1,200,000 tons a year production capacity.

The NPC top official said the most important specification of contract with Total and its likely partnership in petrochemical projects is transfer technology for production of a special kind of polyethylene in Iran.

Iran’s annual petrochemical production capacity stands at 62 million tons and by the end of this year (March 20, 2018), the figure will reach 72 million tons when six new projects come into stream. The total value of net sale of the products will rise up to $17 billion.

National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and an international consortium, led by French Total company, signed Iran’s new oil contract in the post-sanction era for development of the phase 11 of South Pars.

Under the $4.8 billion gas deal, 56 million cubic meters of gas will be added to Iran’s capacity to extract gas from South Pars gas field common with Qatar.

According to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat), the comparison also shows 127% increase in commercial exchange between Iran and EU countries, reaching from € 2.9b to € 6.55b.

Europe’s exports to Iran also show a 44% increase, reaching € 3.15b. It was € 2.17b in the first four months of 2016.

The changes are due to termination of oil sanctions and Europe’s restarting to buy oil from Iran.

“Iran can be a trustworthy partner in joint production of goods and exporting them to the regional countries, especially Central Asia,” Zarif said in a meeting with German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries in Berlin on Tuesday.

He said that the Iranian businessmen and Germany’s commercial society have mutual trust in each other.

“The time is now ripe for Iran and Germany to broaden their economic cooperation and naturally banking cooperation paves the way for increasing the economic and trade relations between the two countries,” Foreign Minister Zarif said.

The German economy minister, for her part, pointed to the age-old relations between the two countries, and said, “Iran-Germany relations are at a satisfactory level and a large number of Germans visit Iran every year.”

She said that Germany’s export insurance known as Hermes is interested to guarantee investment projects in Iran, especially in the sectors such as energy and electricity.

He said in direction of expanding usage of renewable energies technologies, clean energy and absorbing foreign investment, the MoU was signed by Green Coast Solution to design, finance and execute projects to build renewable power plants.

Dasht-e-Bozorg said that investment capacity to build more than 2,000 megawatts of different renewable power plants, photo voltaic, solar, thermal, wind, waste-to-energy plant exist in Khuzestan and Kohgiloyeh va Boyer Ahmad provinces.

These two provinces are operational field of KREC.

The two ministers met on the sidelines of the annual meeting of European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

Schäuble, underlining the JCPOA implementation, welcomed banking cooperation between Tehran and Berlin.

He said German banks are ready to upgrade cooperation with Iran.
Zarif arrived in Berlin on Monday morning.

He is to meet President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel later.

He made the remarks in meeting with East Azarbaijan Province Governor General Esmaeil Jabbarzadeh here on Tuesday.

Huseynov said while our trade exchanges with Iran increased, it was reduced by other neighboring states.

The ambassador said that Azeri people trust Iranian physicians and medicine and around one million Azeri tourists visit Iran each month.

Over past years, 5,000 trucks transit goods between the two countries, now it reaches to 15,000, Huseynov said.

He underlined the rise in economic exchanges between the two countries and said that Tabriz Bazaar is historical and world famous market and our country is ready to increase economic and commercial relations with Tabriz businessmen and set up Tabriz Bazaar in Baku.

He said by launching railways between the two countries, the possibility to export Iranian goods to Europe through the Republic of Azerbaijan Republic will be prepared.

Concerning several visits of presidents of the two countries in the past four years, Huseynov said the results of the meetings were activation of the private sectors.

Over the past week, a total of 5,000 tons of food exports have been sent to the peninsular state in southern Persian Gulf, Mohammad Mahdi Benchari told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Tuesday.

“Every day, 750 tons of food products from Bolkheir Port in Tangestan region as well as 350 tons from Dayyer port are exported to Qatar,” Benchari said.

The province’s ports are in a strategic location on the shores of the Persian Gulf, with some 148 nautical miles away from Qatar, and this has created a good opportunity for Bushehr to export goods to the Arab state, according to the official.

Emphasizing the province’s capacities for exporting food products to Qatar, he noted that Dayyer, Bolkheir and Genaveh ports are leading in maritime trade with the Persian Gulf country.

“937 kilometers of coast line has made Bushehr Province a strategic spot on the international waterway of the Persian Gulf.

This has provided the province with a privilege securing Bushehr an opportunity to enhance trade ties with the Persian Gulf littoral states, the official added.

Iran’s Ambassador to Oman Mohammad Reza Nouri Shahroudi explored avenues for bolstering economic cooperation in a meeting with Omani Minister of Trade and Industries Masoud al- Sunaidy on Wednesday.

Both sides expressed pleasure over the high level of political ties, stressing the need for bolstering commercial exchanges.

They also highlighted the necessity for issuing visas for commerce activists, developing infrastructure, strengthening transportation fleet and promoting financial and banking relations.

Al- Sunaidy, for his part, said that the volume of economic exchanges between the two countries has reached $1.2 billion, expressing the hope that the figure would hit two billion dollars by the end of the year.

“Given Iran-Oman good ties, Muscat is determined to further promote commercial, economic and political relations,” he said.

A short sea distance between Iran and Oman is a suitable opportunity for enhancing ties in all fields, he said.