China in $4.9b deal to develop Iran gas field

IRAN has announced a $US3.2 billion ($4.9 billion) natural gas deal with China, a move that underscores the difficulty of using economic sanctions to put pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

Iranian state television quoted a government official as saying the deal with a Chinese consortium, announced two days after the US renewed sanctions against Iran, would eventually include an unnamed European country as a partner.

Under the three-year deal China will help develop the South Pars field, a sprawling cavity beneath the Persian Gulf seabed that is part of what geologists believe is the world’s largest natural gas reservoir.
SMH