TEHRAN - The director of investment and business of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Fereydoun Kurd Zanganeh has emphasized that Iran and China planning for the development of the Yadavaran field and other joint fields.
He noted that the first phase of the Yadavaran oil field was already completed by Sinopec in 2015 with a capacity of 110,000 barrels per day and is productive, adding: “According to the negotiations with this company, the second phase of the development of this joint field was also planned to be handed over to this company, but unfortunately, at that time, the former oil minister stopped the negotiations, therefore, in the past year, NIOC has conducted regular negotiations with Chinese companies in the development of oil and gas fields.”
The investment and business manager of NIOC emphasized that Sinopec has not yet announced in any way that it will not cooperate in the development of the Yadavaran field, and stated: “The officials negotiating with this company at NIOC are looking for new ways to use the investment opportunity I Yadavaran Oilfield.”
Stressing that the development of the Yadavaran field is one of the priority projects of NIOC, Kurd Zanganeh said: “The early production plan of the Yadavaran field is in line with the main plan of the Chinese company, and some of my colleagues in the subsidiary companies have had discussions about this field and negotiations with the Chinese side. It should be done with the coordination of the National Iranian Oil Company because the negotiations are going on confidentially at the management levels of the two companies.”
He considered the integration of the joint Azadegan field and the development of joint oil fields with Iraq among the axes of the negotiations with Sinopec, and added: “Now, due to the identification of the shareholders of the consortium developing this field, NIOC, as the employer, has requested in our negotiations with this Chinese company to be present as an investor in this field.”
The NIOC official further stated: “Last year, Sinopec, which has a history of cooperation with Iran in the first stage of the development of the North Azadegan field, offered to cooperate with us again.”
Kurd Zanganeh, referring to the negotiations between NIOC and the administration to use the China-Iran credit line for the development of joint oil fields, added: “In the last negotiations we had with one of the large Chinese companies, this company was willing to invest three to one (one share for Iran, three shares for China) in the Iran LNG project using the China-Iran credit line.”

Iran, China Can Triple
Trade to Over $70bn

Chairman of Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce Majid Reza Hariri said that the two countris have a potential to triple the value of their annual trade to over $70 billion.
Hariri said that Tehran and Beijing can capitalize on their growing political and energy ties to boost bilateral trade.
He said trade between Iran and China has been stable in recent years despite US sanctions targeting Iran’s access to international markets.
“We have had around $24 billion worth of trade with the Chinese even under the worst conditions of sanctions and we can reach at least triple that figure,” said Hariri in an interview with the official government newspaper Iran.
The businessman hailed China’s policy of maintaining close economic relations with Iran despite U.S. sanctions, adding that trade with Beijing has been much easier for Iran compared with other trade partners since 2018 when Washington imposed its sweeping sanctions on Tehran.
He said China has increased its purchase of Iranian crude oil despite US bans, adding that the country even declares some limited state purchases of Iranian oil in its customs figures to show that it officially rejects the unilateral sanctions imposed on Iran.