Page 46 - IRANRptSep18

backing of the French and European authorities, such a waiver could not be obtained.”
Total’s CEO Patrick Pouyanne was quoted in July as saying: “There is no other way than to leave Iran’s lucrative project. You cannot operate in 130 countries around the world without accessing the US financial system. Therefore, we are enforcing and complying with US laws and have to leave Iran’s profitable market.”
Contractually, China’s state-controlled China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has the right to take over Total’s South Pars 11 project 50.1% stake and it is widely expected to do so. CNPC already holds a 30% stake in the venture, while Iran’s Petropars owns the rest of the shares. China is pushing back against US sanctions on Iran, saying it does not intend to follow measures that are not backed by the UN. The country is the largest importer of Iranian oil and has stated that it will not adhere to Washington policy that from November 4 no country should import Iranian crude. Like other nuclear deal signatories France, Germany, the UK and Russia, Iran insists the nuclear deal should remain intact.
Meanwhile, Spanish oil and gas equipment and services firm Esproenko International has committed to staying in Iran and doubling down on its activities there despite the reimposition of heavy US sanctions against the country, Mehr News Agency reported on August 18. Esproenko International's PR manager Carlos Toledo noted that the company started working with Iran in 2013 "when sanctions on the Islamic Republic were imposed by all sides, namely, the European Union and the United States."
Chinese buyers of Iranian oil are to use Iranian-owned oil tankers for all future deliveries in order to sidestep US sanctions, Reuters reported on August 20. Beijing has pledged to continue taking shipments of Iranian oil despite Washington’s drive to almost entirely shut off the oil market to Tehran by November 4. Any foreign company shipping Iranian oil will be exposed to US secondary sanctions. Thus, China will use the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), which has several dozen oil tankers in operation, for deliveries of crude from the Persian Gulf. The company currently services other buyers of Iranian oil, including second biggest buyer India.
New Delhi appears to be in negotiations with the US to secure a waiver for the delivery of around half the Iranian oil it currently receives.
China’s Zhai Zhenrong Corp and Sinopec, both state-owned companies, have reportedly activated a clause in their long-term supply agreements with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) which allows them to use NITC-operated tankers. The terms opened up by the clause are particularly favourable to the Chinese as the shipments will be sent on an ex-ship basis instead of under the free-on-board method, meaning Iran will cover the cost of shipping the oil as well as insurance. In July, all 17 tankers chartered to carry oil from Iran to China were operated by NITC, according to shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon. In June, eight of the 19 vessels chartered were Chinese-operated.
9.2.2 Automotive corporate news
Iran’s Deputy Interior Minister Mohsen Salehinia has said Peugeot and PSA Group should receive fines for breaking contracts with Iran Khodro (IKCO) and SAIPA, the two biggest state-controlled automakers, Tasnim News Agency reported on August 11.
46 IRAN Country Report September 2018 www.intellinews.com