Zangeneh made the announcement after a meeting with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius who visited Tehran to revive relations after the finalization of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries.
A new chapter will open in cooperation with Frances Total for development of Irans oilfields, the Ministry of Petroleums Shana news outlet quoted Zangeneh as saying.
Total has been present in Irans oil projects for more than 20 years and in view of the intent expressed by the French, a new door is supposed to open for the expansion of the companys activities in developing Iranian oilfields, he added.
Total ran a gas project in Iran from 1995 to 2000 together with Russian and Asian partners to develop Phase 2 and 3 of the South Pars field at a cost of more than $2 billion.
It also developed Irans offshore Balal oilfield along with Italys Elf and Canadas Bow Valley in 1999 in a deal worth $300 million.
Irans Deputy Minister of Petroleum Amir Hossein Zamaninia saidTotal did a great job when it ignored the 1996 Iran and Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) of US Congress to participate in Irans energy projects.
In April, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said Total could not ignore Irans natural gas potentials. Iran has the world's second largest gas reserves after Russia, and we will consider returning to this country once sanctions are lifted," he said in Russia.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"]
French FM Laurent Fabius and Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh hold talks in Tehran.[/caption]Zangeneh said he also discussed with Fabius the French companies interest in Iranian petrochemical projects as well as cooperation on efficient energy use, LNG production and supply of equipment.
French companies are due to have a broad presence in Irans petrochemical industry beside continuing their past activities which were mostly providing investment and finance, he said.
Iranian and French companies are planned to cooperate on production of equipment for the Iranian oil industry under French brand labels and investment which, besides being used locally, will be exported to regional countries, Zangeneh added.
Fabius said his oil and energy talks with Zangeneh were very positive, hoping the results would be also satisfactory, Shana reported. It also quoted Zamaninia as saying thatFrances oil and gas executives will travel to Tehran soon for negotiations.
French gas and power group Engie said on Wednesday it was weighing involvement in Iranian power engineering and gas infrastructure projects.
Engie CEO Gerard Mestrallet said he has met Zangeneh in the past two years, adding Iran has the world's second biggest gas reserves and that the country is likely to become an exporter of gas as well as oil.
By Press TV
