China invests 40 billion dollars in Iran oil, gas: Minister
TEHRAN, July 31, AFP - Iran's main economic partner China has
invested around 40 billion dollars in the Islamic republic's oil and gas
sector, a senior Iranian official said on Saturday.
Deputy Oil Minister Hossein Noqrehkar Shirazi also said that Tehran's
oil exports to China fell by 30 percent in the first six months of 2010
compared with the corresponding period last year.
"The volume (of Chinese investment) in upstream projects is 29
billion dollars," Noqrehkar Shirazi told Mehr news agency, adding that
Beijing had signed contracts worth another 10 billion dollars in
petrochemicals, refineries and oil and gas pipeline projects.
He said China has also put forward proposals to participate in
building seven new refineries in Iran.
Iran, OPEC's second largest oil exporter, has a dilapidated refining
sector, forcing it to import petroleum products such as gasoline to meet
domestic needs. Noqrehkar Shirazi said that Chinese imports of Iranian
oil fell in the first half of the year.
"Although Iran is still among top 10 oil exporters to China, it is
the only country which in the first six months of 2010 has seen its
exports to China falling," he said. "The volume of oil exports to China
in the first six months of this year decreased to less than 9.02 million
tonnes or 66.12 million barrels. This shows a 30 percent decrease" over
the first half of 2009, he added.
In recent years, China has filled the gaps in Iran's energy sector
left by Western firms forced out by international sanctions. In 2009,
China became Iran's premier trading partner, with bilateral trade worth
21.2 billion dollars against 14.4 billion dollars three years earlier.
Commercial ties between the two countries were almost non-existent 15
years ago, amounting to just 400 million dollars. According to official
data, Western sanctions opened the way for Chinese companies, which last
year directly supplied Iran with 13 percent (7.9 billion dollars) of its
imports.
Iranian estimates also suggest that an equivalent amount was imported
indirectly through the United Arab Emirates in 2009.
China backed the fourth set of UN sanctions against Iran over its
contested nuclear programme, but Beijing has consistently urged the
world powers to resolve the crisis diplomatically.
On Friday, it also opposed the latest unilateral sanctions on Iran
imposed by the European Union.
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