Iran oil minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said that the agreement signed with the Norwegian IFLNG company has already been annulled.
A report in the Trend said that the deal with Norwegian Hemla was cancelled following the criticism by some Iranian MPs.
The report quoted Iran’s oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh saying that the deal is cancelled following the some criticism regarding the contract terms.
In October 2017, Iran signed a contract with Norwegian oil and gas company to build the country’s first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) unit in the Persian Gulf.
The managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company Ali Kardor then said that the FLNG facility is a seaborne structure that would produce, liquefy, store and transfer LNG at sea before carriers ship it directly to markets.
Under the contract, Iran’s natural gas was planned to be converted to LNG in a floating LNG vessel (FLNG), belonging to Belgium's Exmar.
The critics were accusing the Iranian oil ministry of signing a deal against the country’s national interests and setting an unacceptably low price for gas sell to the Norwegian side.
IFLNG AS is the joint venture of Hemla Vantage AS and Kharg Gas Refining Company, daughter company of Kharg Petrochemical Company. IFLNG AS is located in Oslo, Norway, and Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.