TEHRAN, Iran, Apr.6
Trend:
It is unlikely that China would have a role in development of Iran's oil industry, if the details of the 25-year Iran-China agreement are finalized, Iranian energy expert Morteza Behrouzifar told Trend.
"The idea that China could help Iran develop its oil industry and solve its problems is unlikely to materialize," Behrouzifar said.
"China doesn't have the advanced technology in the oil sector, and the country is the biggest oil importer in the world, and will continue to remain one in the next two decades. It has enough capital, but it doesn't have technical knowledge in the field of oil," said the expert.
Behrouzifar said that after the imposed sanctions, China's CNPC could not work in Iran.
"The Chinese can't work if there are sanctions," he said. "The trade between the US and China is trillion of US dollars, so we can't expect China to lose all that and move towards Iran."
"China was one of the countries that could have prevented the US sanctions but it did very little and it officially did not purchase oil and changed its purchase methods. China has purchased oil from Iran during sanctions but has not paid for it," he said.
"Our senior administrators presumed that if we move towards China or Russia, the problems with sanctions would be solved, but it did not happen. So, if there are sanctions, not necessarily international ones, China won't enter Iran's market," Behrouzifar said.