FIRST oil production within the next few weeks from Iran's $465 million Sirri E project at the southern end of the Persian Gulf will represent the culmination of a technical and political success story for French oil group Total that will leave many American oilmen green with envy. Three years ago the Sirri scheme was snatched away from US oil company Conoco by the Clinton administration, which then unsuccessfully tried to slap unilateral sanctions in the form of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act on any foreign company looking to invest in the Iranian energy sector.