Iran plans to offer�oil companies�improved terms to develop oil and natural gas fields once a trade embargo against the country is lifted,Total SA (FP)�Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie said.
Contracts will be �more sexy than before,� De Margerie said today in an interview at Davos with Bloomberg TV. �They are definitely expecting the embargo to be lifted.�

Europe�s third-biggest oil company, which stopped work on Iran�s South Pars gas field in 2009 as the U.S. tightened sanctions, has �no specific right to restart� work on previous projects, he said. �Our project when we left was ended.�

Hassan Rouhani, Iran�s first leader in a decade to visit Davos for the�World Economic Forum, needs deals to rescue an economy that shrank more than 5 percent last fiscal year under the weight of sanctions. Some will be lifted, along with�capital controls, after a Nov. 24 deal in Geneva. Rouhani attended a meeting with energy executives including�De Margerie�yesterday.

Negotiations will continue on eliminating the trade sanctions in exchange for controls that ensure�Iran�s nuclear program�is limited to power generation.

�The message was as usual �We have plenty of oil and plenty of gas. We need your management skills, we need your technology. We don�t really need your money,�� according to De Margerie. �He said �We would like you to come back in our country, which is prepared to offer you new terms, new contractual terms�� in a few months.
South Pars
Iran�s priorities include developing South Pars, where Total had worked to increase export capacity, and redeveloping old fields to enhance output, the French executive said.

The Paris-based�International Energy Agency, an adviser to 28 nations, estimated on Jan. 21 that purchasers imported about 1.07 million barrels a day from Iran in 2013.�Oil prices�fell in late November after Iran reached a preliminary agreement.

�The fact that they are telling us to start moving, to get ready, should mean that they are ready to make moves on the political discussions,� De Margerie said. �Otherwise there is no reason for them to come to tell us to be ready.�

Any production from Iran would come after 2017, he said.

By Bloomberg�

 

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