"No foreign company in its right mind would hand over the most advanced technologies to Iran and then get kicked out after a few years, " says Varzi.

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"All, without any exception, are in decline--some in terminal decline, " says Mehdi Varzi, a prerevolutionary NIOC official who now runs the consulting firm Varzi Energy in London.

FORBES: Running Dry

Total's return on its 1997 South Pars project was 18% to 19% a year, says London consultant Varzi, because authorities were desperate to sign a deal after Conoco pulled out.

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