Iran’s share of China’s oil investments

According to Energy Press, Mahmoud Khaqani said about the prospects of China’s plans in Iraq’s oil industry and its impact on Iran: In a short period of time, China’s investment in Iraq is about 3 billion dollars and this investment is increasing. Especially, the Chinese have become very active in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

He added: Recently, the American Prime Minister had a meeting with American companies and stated that he has new licenses for exploration, extraction and exploitation of opposition fields in Iraq, especially gas resources, because Iraq is desperately seeking to find a large amount of gas for domestic use. But in Iraq’s tenders, mostly Chinese companies won, while the Americans did not have much desire to invest in this country.

This energy expert said: Usually the Chinese are active in the Middle East with European partners such as Total, Shell and BP, so it seems that China has set its main goal to develop oil and gas in Iraq and in Iran, compared to Iraq, it is trying to increase the clearing transactions, that is, it intends to maintain the current level of production in Iran and the oil that is exported to China.

He continued: For example, now China has signed a 3 billion dollar contract with Iran to develop the second phase of Imam Airport. It is interesting that the activity of the company that signed this contract is mostly buying and selling oil, not buying buildings and airport construction. Tehran Municipality has signed a contract of 3 billion euros for the purchase of buses and electric intra-city transportation, and the company that signed this contract is mostly in the construction business. Because these companies that are active in the field of construction in China have recently faced a crisis, and the largest companies have even gone bankrupt, because they made large investments with the idea that the population of China is increasing, while the population of this country is decreasing. As a result, other countries have entered the oil sector.

Khaqani emphasized: A look at the Middle East and regional projects shows that the US is not interested in competing with China, and in fact there is a secret understanding between the US and China that the price of crude oil per barrel will not exceed $80, and the US has somehow managed to convince China. The fact that the US dollar is directly connected to US oil and gas reserves, and in fact, oil and gas have become a support for the dollar. As the dollar has strengthened against the Japanese yen, and on the other hand, the Chinese yuan has strengthened with the production and refining of 14 to 15 million barrels of crude oil, as a result, China and the United States have managed to jointly manage the oil market.