Iran wants China to replace Japan as its biggest importer of oil
and gas, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was reported as
saying.
"Japan is our number one energy importer for historical reasons
. . . but we would like to give preference to exports to China,"
Zanganeh was quoted as saying in China Business Weekly
magazine.
Iran and China last week signed a preliminary accord under which
China will buy an annual 10 million tons of liquefied natural gas
(LNG) for 25 years in a deal worth US$100 billion.
The memorandum of understanding also grants to Chinese oil giant
Sinopec the right to exploit the Yadavaran oil field on a buy-back
basis in cooperation with a major international oil company.
The Yadavaran oil field, with more than 3 billion barrels of
exploitable reserves, is located near the Iraq border. It comprises
the Koushk and Hosseinieh oil fields, which were recently found to
be connected at various layers, forming an oil field with a
cumulative in-place reserve of 17 billion barrels.
Such leading international oil firms as Royal Dutch Shell, Total
and Statoil submitted bids to develop the field.
(China.org.cn, China Daily November 8, 2004)