Page 49 - IRANRptNov18

The move is intriguing in that most energy exports from Persian Gulf countries have to pass through the Strait of Hormuz to reach the open ocean. Iran throughout August several times indicated that it would be prepared to blockade the waterway should the US attempt to shut off world oil markets to Iranian crude exports—due to take effect on November 5—impact on the Islamic Republic’s lifeline oil revenues. Conceivably, the opening of a replacement main oil export terminal on the Gulf of Oman—a marginal sea that is part of the Indian Ocean—could leave Iran able to ship big volumes of oil, but Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates unable to export vast volumes of oil and gas.
The switch to the Gulf of Oman will not happen overnight, however. Petroleum Engineering and Development Co. (PEDEC), Petro Omid Asia Co, and National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) have been given three years in all to roll out the oil storage investment. The storage tanks realised in the first phase of the project are to hold 10mn barrels of crude, while those bulit in the second phase will add extra capacity amounting to 20mn barrels.
Rouhani announced the terminal switch as he opened a new energy complex in Asalouyeh, a city on the Persian Gulf coast.
This is very important for me; it is a very strategic issue for me. A major part of our oil sales must move from Kharg [Island in the Persian Gulf] to Jask," Rouhani said in a televised speech.
French energy major Total has officially confirmed it is withdrawing from the multi-billion-dollar South Pars gas field development project in Iran because it is exposed to US secondary sanctions, AFP reported on August 20. Total said it had decided it has no choice but to cancel any further business cooperation with Iran because the US was refusing to issue it a sanctions waiver. When Total in July last year signed a long-awaited deal to develop phase 11 of the Persian gas field—the world’s largest—the agreement was celebrated as a big breakthrough for Iran since the January 2016 activation of the nuclear deal.
But Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House has undone a lot of the progressmade.Itappearsthat E Umovestoprotectcompanies fromtheUS sanctions may mainly prove of benefit to small and medium sized companies with limited or no exposure to the US.
"Total has officially left the agreement for the development of phase 11 of South Pars," Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh informed ICANA news agency earlier on August 20.
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.
9.2.2 Automotive corporate news
Renault Pars, the Iranian automotive subsidiary of France’s Renault, has conceded it is having trouble sourcing parts for constructing new cars. The unit, despite saying it was to a significant extent winding down operations in the Islamic Republic , in recent weeks began a series of high-profile billboard marketing campaigns across Tehran announcing that it was continuing with operations despite the US sanctions levied on the country’s automotive industry in August following the May withdrawal from the nuclear deal by
49 IRAN Country Report November 2018 www.intellinews.com