FNA - Iranian Ambassador to Beijing Mohammad Keshavarzzadeh underlined his country's vital role in secured energy supplies to China.

"Iran enjoys one of the largest oil and gas reserves, and given China's growing needs to energy on the way of its development, it can play an important role in supplying and securing China's energy needs," Keshavarzzadeh said, addressing a ceremony in Beijing on Wednesday.

He added that Iran and China are facing common interests and threats and can use these interests through cooperation and overcome common threats.

Keshavarzzadeh also referred to Iran's strategic position in the Middle-East and its unique security in the region, and said the country is a short route for export of Chinese products.

China is the top importer of Iranian crude.

The China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Sinopec have invested billions of dollars in Yadavaran and North Azadegan oilfields.

China's state-run energy giant Sinopec offered a three-billion-dollar deal to further develop an Iranian oilfield the two countries are already working on, media reports said earlier this month.

The offer made by the China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) is part of an existing contract to operate the Yadavaran oilfield in Southwest Iran on the Iraqi border.

It noted that Sinopec has told its Iranian counterpart, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), it wants its share of the field’s production to be granted under the US waiver allocated to China.

The new deal was offered by Sinopec in late December 2018 when the US allowed China to keep purchasing as much as 360,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day, the Journal said.

If implemented, the deal offered by China would double production at Yadavaran to more than 200,000 barrels a day (bpd) within six months.