CNPC to Get SP Stake If Total Withdraws

France's Total SA, the only western energy major investing in Iran, will lose its stake in the South Pars Gas Field to its Chinese partner if the Paris-based company withdraws from the country, the head of National Iranian Oil Company said. "Total has spent $90 million to help develop the offshore field's Phase 11 and will not be compensated before production begins," Ali Kardor, managing director of state-run NIOC, also said on Sunday at a news conference in Tehran.  Kardor did not specify whether Total would receive any compensation if it pulled out of the project pertaining to the world’s biggest gas deposit, Bloomberg reported. There was no response to phone calls and an email made outside of business hours to the media office at Total’s headquarters. Total has signed Iran’s biggest international energy deal since world powers agreed in 2015 to ease economic sanctions on the Persian Gulf country in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.