Energy giants-China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Total-recently signed a USD4.8 billion natural gas development project with Iran,enabling the Middle Eastern country to make the first joint venture with international partners since UN sanctions on Iran were eased in January 2016.Paris-based Total will control 50.1 percent in the project,with CNPC taking 30 percent and Iran's Petropars the rest.The deal,for the 11 th phase of the offshore South Pars gas field,is still preliminary,with both sides signing a "heads up agreement",according to Gholam-Reza Manouchehri,deputy director of the National Iranian Oil Co.