French oil giant Total seeks Iran sanctions waiver from Trump for $2 billion project

The French oil giant Total threatened Wednesday to pull out of a $2 billion natural gas project in Iran if President Trump does not give it a waiver from sanctions he reimposed on Iran last week.

Total said it was seeking French government support for a license — “a specific project waiver” — from the Trump administration that would protect the company from indirect effects of U.S. sanctions.

Total signed a 20-year contract with Iran on July 4, 2017 agreeing to spend at least $2 billion on the South Pars field, an offshore area Iran shares with Qatar. Total would have carried out drilling and constructed production platforms and subsea pipelines.

But the sanctions Trump reimposed after withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal would cover not only U.S. companies but other international firms through “secondary sanctions” limiting transactions in dollars and operations in the U.S. market, which is far bigger than Iran’s.

Read the Full Article at The Washington Post