Iran orders six Chinese LNG tankers

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 May 2010

Iran has ordered six tankers from China to transport the liquefied natural gas (LNG) it hopes to export from its giant gas reserves, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday. The order -- worth $200 million to 220 million per ship -- is a sign that China's economic relations with Iran remain fairly good despite Beijing backing a new draft of U.N. sanctions meant to pressure Tehran over its uranium enrichment.
Mohammad Souri, managing director of the National Iranian Tanker Co., said Iran usually bought South Korean ships but had judged the Chinese offer better value for money.
In another sign of cordial relations, a Tehran city council official said on Sunday that China has granted Iran a 1-billion euro ($1.23 billion) loan for infrastructure investment such as roads, Fars reported.
Unlike Qatar, its neighbour across the Gulf with which it shares the vast South Pars gas field, Iran does not yet produce LNG. The development of Iran's gas industry has been hampered by years of sanctions which have deterred foreign investors.
In a sign of China's growing importance in the OPEC member's energy industry, last year the China National Petroleum Corporation clinched a $4.7 billion deal to develop phase 11 of South Pars, replacing France's Total.
It is also in talks about developing Iran's LNG industry.
As China's economy has boomed in recent years, it has used its financial clout, in the form of loans or investments, to strengthen ties with mineral-rich countries around the world, including Iran, its third-largest crude oil supplier.
China has said new sanctions against Iran, to be discussed by the U.N. Security Council, must not hurt "normal trade".
"The purpose of sanctions is to bring the Iranian side to the negotiating table," China's U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong said shortly after Beijing gave its backing to a draft which the United States and Europe had been pushing for for months.
"The sanctions are not for punishing innocent people and should not harm normal trade."

Source: Reuters