<p dir="LTR"><span>ISNA- Iran plans to sign a new contract to develop its giant South Pars gas field with France's Total and China's CNPC on Monday.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>Iran plans to sign a new contract to develop its giant South Pars gas field with France's Total and China's CNPC on Monday, the first major Western energy investment since sanctions against Tehran were lifted, an Iranian oil ministry official told Reuters on Sunday.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>Total holds a 50.1 interest in the South Pars project with state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation owning 30 percent and Iran's Petropars 19.9 percent.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>The offshore field was first developed in the 1990s and Total was one of the biggest investors in Iran until the international sanctions were imposed in 2006.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>Total has decided to return and develop Phase 11 of the South Pars project, which will cost up to $5 billion.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>"The international contract for development of Phase 11 of South Pars in the framework of IPC (Iranian Petroleum Contract) will be signed on Monday, July 3, at 14:30, at a ceremony in Tehran attended by Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and senior officials from France’s Total, China’s CNPCI and Iran's Petropars," the Iranian oil ministry official said.</span></p>