The strategic deal was signed between NIOC and a consortium comprising France's Total, China's CNPC International and Petropars Company from Iran.

A ceremony was held here in Tehran on Monday in the presence of Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh, Total chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné, CNPC International President Mr. Lyu and Hamid Akbari, managing director of Petropars. 

Total will operate the project with a 50.1% interest alongside Petropars (19.9%) and the CNPC (30%). The consortium is expected to produce around 50 million cubic meters of gas per day from the offshore reserves of SP. 11 project.

During 20 years of gas extraction under the contract, an estimated volume of 335 billion cubic meters of rich, sour natural gas will be produced from the phase with 290 million barrels of gas condensate, 14 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 12 million tons of ethane and 2 million tons of sulfur as well as 315 billion cubic meters of light sweet gas. 

The energy carriers produced by the project will be valued at more than $54b considering the current prices. 

Preliminary production from the project will begin from the project 40 months after signature of the contract. Considering the intricacy of construction of pressure boosting facilities, the contract will take 36 months for studies and 60 months for platform construction.