Iran signs deal with Petropars to develop Belal gas field

Iran signed a $440 million contract on Saturday with local company Petropars to develop the Belal gas field in the Gulf, Report informs citing Reuters.

“This contract and other upcoming contracts show that we are working under the sanctions. The sanctions have not stopped us and we are active,” Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said at the signing ceremony in remarks carried by state TV.

Under the deal signed with a subsidiary of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Petropars is to produce 500 million cubic feet per day of gas, state TV said.

Belal is developed by Iran and Qatar.

On June 7 this year, Washington imposed sanctions on the largest Iranian petrochemical holding, Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries, as well as more than 30 of its subsidiaries and branches. According to US Secretary of the Treasury Stephen Mnuchin, the US side intends to stop financing the key elements of the Iranian petrochemical sector, "which is supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps."