BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 31
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Iran's energy production and exports can be increased as a result of a 25-year agreement between Iran and China, former Iranian representative at OPEC Mohammad Ali Khatibi told Trend.
According to him, despite the details of the agreement have not yet been fully disclosed, some reports indicate that it is aimed at investing in Iran's oil and gas sector.
Khatibi added that based on this, Iran can increase crude oil and gas production and, consequently, exports. Part of it can be exported to China.
The ex-official noted that the agreement between Iran and China will increase Chinese investments in Iran. This could also help reduce the negative impact of sanctions on Iran's economy.
“As China's demand for energy grows, so can Iran's exports. Because there are forecasts that the Chinese economy will rise to the first place among the world's economies in the next 10 years. Iran may also play a role in China's energy security,” he said.
On March 27, the foreign ministers of Iran and China signed a 25-year agreement on comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.
Following the implementation of the nuclear deal signed between Iran and the P5+1 group in 2016, Iran increased oil extraction to 3.8 million barrels daily over the 3 months. In total, Iran's oil and gas condensate extraction reached to 4.8 million barrels per day in that year. And Iran exported 3 million barrels of crude oil and gas condensate per day.
However, as a result of new US sanctions against Iran in November 2018, Iran's exports of crude oil and gas condensate decreased.
It is estimated that, Iran exported daily 600,000-700,000 barrels of crude oil in the last Iranian year (from March 20, 2020 through March 20, 2021).