OREANDA-NEWS. April 29, 2014. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has left Iran's oil projects as an ultimatum over its continuous delays has expired, Azerbaijan's Trend news agency reported.

According to Trend, Iran had issued an ultimatum to CNPC on Feb 18 over its continuous delays in developing the South Azadegan oilfield.

At the time, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said CNPC would be expelled from the project if delays were prolonged.

Iran had given a 90-day ultimatum to China.

CNPC had been awarded contracts to develop the North Pars oilfield, Yadavaran joint oilfield, North and South Azadegan fields, and the phase 11 of the South Pars gas field.

Due to repeated delays, the company had earlier been expelled from the South Pars and the North Pars projects.

CNPC has been in charge of developing the South Azadegan oilfield for seven years.

However, only seven out of the projected 185 wells of the first phase of the oilfield have been drilled so far, managing director of Iran's Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC), Abdolreza Haji Hosseinnejad said in February.

The oilfield is projected to produce 320,000 barrels of oil per day.

Citing a news agency report, Trend said CNPC signed a memorandum of understanding with National Iranian Oil Co. in 2009 promising to pay 90 per cent of development costs for the South Azadegan oil field while taking ownership of a 70 percent stake.