India - China: Relations And Developments-2

[Naresh]

<b>US tells China to reconsider $16b gas deal with Iran</b>

BEIJING: The US has urged China to reconsider a reported multibillion dollar natural gas deal with Iran amid world efforts to sanction Tehran for its nuclear programmes, an Embassy spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

China’s No 3 oil company, China National Offshore Oil Corp, was reported last month to be in talks to develop Iran’s Northern Pars gas field. Around the same time, the UN Security Council unanimously agreed to impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend a uranium enrichment programme that is suspected of being part of a nuclear weapons project.

Given the sanctions and Tehran’s continued defiance, “We think this is a particularly bad time to be initiating major new commercial deals with Iran,” US Embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson said in an e-mail. Stevenson said US Embassy officials broached the issue in late December with the oil company, known as CNOOC, and with Chinese authorities she would not specify. The US officials were told that “no final agreement between CNOOC and Iran has been reached,” she said.

The Iranian Mehr news agency reported last month that CNOOC signed a $16 billion agreement to develop the Northern Pars gas field and build a liquefied natural gas facilities.

Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said US sanctions imposed last month against three Chinese companies for alleged weapons trade with Iran and Syria were baseless and demanded they be lifted. ap

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