China boosts investment in Iran's energy

In ‎2009, Iran accounted for ‎‏11‏‎ percent of China's oil imports,
ranking ‎third among China's main oil suppliers after Angola
and Saudi Arabia


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136850§ionid=351020103


Chinese companies have invested around $40 billion in different upstream and downstream projects in Iran's oil and gas sector, an Iranian oil official says.

"Chinese companies have invested about $29 billion in Iran's upstream oil and gas sector and another $10 billion in the country's downstream energy sector, including gas, petrochemical and refinery construction projects," Iran's Deputy Oil Minister in International Affairs Hossein noghrehkar Shirazi said in an interview with Mehr news agency.

He added that the two countries are to start a new round of talks on developing bilateral oil trade and exchange.

Another Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Alireza Zeighami said earlier in July that Chinese companies have offered to finance some of the country's oil refinery development and gasoline production projects.

"Chinese companies are currently involved in building the Arak oil refinery; we intend to expand our cooperation with different Chinese firms for other oil refinery projects in Iran," Zeighami said.

Chinese companies are expanding their presence in Iran's oil refinery sector.

Last year, Chinese refiner Sinopec signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company to invest $6.5 billion for building oil refineries in Iran.

Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil producer, plans to build seven new refineries with a total investment of $23 billion.

A US official said Thursday that Washington is worried that Iran continues to attract investment from China despite a new round of UN Security Council sanctions imposed on Tehran.

Chinese companies were "aggressive" in investing in Iran's oil and gas fields, Joseph Christoff, head of the Government Accountability Office's international affairs and trade department, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Christoff said international and unilateral sanctions were "not changing their (the Chinese) behavior" toward Iran.

Addressing the same panel, another official said that the US will press China to abide by international sanctions on Iran.

"China is of concern to us," AFP quoted Robert Einhorn, special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control at the State Department, as saying on Thursday. "We need for them to enforce the Security Council resolution," he said.

China investment in Iran worries US

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136724§ionid=351020101


Washington is worried that Iran continues to attract investment from China despite a new round of UN Security Council sanctions imposed on Tehran, a US official says.

Chinese companies were "aggressive" in investing in Iran's oil and gas fields, Joseph Christoff, head of the Government Accountability Office's international affairs and trade department, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday.

Christoff says international and unilateral sanctions were "not changing their (the Chinese) behavior" toward Iran.

Addressing the same panel, another official said that the US will press China to abide by international sanctions on Iran.

"China is of concern to us," AFP quoted Robert Einhorn, special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control at the State Department, as saying on Thursday. "We need for them to enforce the Security Council resolution," he said.

Beijing should not "backfill" by doing business with Tehran while other countries are "distancing themselves from Iran," Einhorn said.

The US and its Western allies accuse Iran of seeking a military nuclear program. Tehran rejects the charges, stressing that as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it will not forgo its right to peaceful nuclear technology.

The UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted sanctions resolution on June 9. Ever since the US, European Union, Australia, and Canada have adopted unilateral sanctions against Iran.

However, China and Russia, two permanent members of the UNSC, as well as many other countries say they would not abide by the unilateral sanctions.

China rejects US accusations on yuan

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=130062§ionid=3510203



World Trade Organization rules do not support US attempts to include Beijing's exchange-rate policy in trade investigations related to government subsidies, China says.

US attempts to punish Beijing unless it allows the yuan to rise, would not be supported by the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, Yao Jian, spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce, said.

"It's against facts and lacks the support of WTO rules," China's commerce ministry spokesman told a news conference on Saturday.

"The WTO regulates trade policies, not financial or foreign exchange policies," he added.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, under fire for delaying a Treasury report to Congress due in April that could have labeled China a currency manipulator, said Thursday that the yuan was an obstruction to the global rebalancing of economies.

According to legislation proposed by US Senator Charles Schumer, US companies would be allowed to seek import duties to compensate for an undervalued currency by labeling it as a subsidy.

Critics argue that the yuan is artificially undervalued, adding that such low rating keeps exports relatively cheap granting Chinese exporters an unfair advantage over their rivals.

Earlier in March, the Governor of the People's Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, said his country would eventually shift away from its special exchange rate policy.

US Fed chief warns of spending cuts

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=129826§ionid=3510203



US Central Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke has warned the Capitol Hill against further spending cuts that might lead to another economic relapse.

In his Wednesday testimony before the House Budget Committee, the US Federal Reserve chief said, "Right now I do not think is the time -- this very moment is not the time -- to radically reduce our spending or raise our taxes because the economy is still in recovery mode and needs that support."

His comments come after Congressional Republicans followed by a number of Democrats made an attempt recently to cut the federal government's budget deficit, US media reported Wednesday.

The US administration has been blighted by a burgeoning budget deficit projected to top $1.6 trillion in 2011, which is about 10.6 percent of the nation's total output.

Bernanke also urged the Congress to draw up a plan in an attempt to bring the deficits to a more sustainable level.

Termed in the US media, as the "Great Recession," the latest economic downturn has also led to the loss of about eight million jobs, making America's exit from the recession a phenomenon botched by jobs scarcity, figures from the country's Labor Department suggest.

The lack of jobs has led economists in the US Fed to call the phenomenon a "jobless recovery."