PARIS - French oil and gas major Total confirmed on Monday that it had notified the Iranian authorities of its withdrawal from the multibillion dollar South Pars gas project after it failed to obtain a waiver from U.S. sanctions.

"The contractual process is ongoing," Total said in an emailed statement.

"As for the future of Total's share, we have not been informed of an official CNPC position, but as we have always said, CNPC, a Chinese state-owned company, has the right to resume our participation if it decides so,” Total added.

(Reporting by Cyril Altmeyer; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Inti Landauro) ((Email: richard.lough@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +33 1 49 49 52 42; Reuters Messaging: richard.lough.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))