US hits at Chinese oil deal with Iran

The US has complained to Beijing about a new deal between Sinopec, the Chinese state-owned energy company, and Iran, in a sign of the rift between the world’s big powers about Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The contract to develop Iran’s Yadavaran oil and gas field, signed in Tehran on December 9, follows a 2004 memorandum of understanding and has been valued by Gholam Hossein Nozari, Iran’s oil minister, at $2bn.


“We were very concerned to see the announcement and we have followed up and communicated that concern to the Chinese government . . . at multiple levels,” said a senior US official, who added the US was still waiting for “further details” from China about the transaction.

“We don’t think it makes sense for any country to be expanding its investment in the energy field in Iran,” he said. Investments in Iran’s energy sector are likely to escape United Nations sanctions in the near future, but they are hugely important for Iran’s economy as a whole – and are therefore the subject of a concerted US lobbying campaign.

Financial Times