Even after the lifting of international sanctions against Iran, long-standing U.S. banking limitations are impeding the country’s oil resurgence by forcing energy companies to use small lenders or barter to get their deals done. France’s Total SA TOT 2.22 % in February had to arrange payments through three smaller European banks to ship the first exports of Iranian crude to Europe in years, said Mohsen Ghamsari, the director in charge of marketing oil at the National Iranian Oil Co. These banks do little business in the U.S., making them less likely to run afoul of U.S. restrictions. Before international banking sanctions, which started around 2006, Total often used giant French bank BNP Paribas SA BNPQY 3.02 % for project finance and oil shipments in Iran, according to people familiar with the matter. A BNP […]