Iran will send a top-level delegation to China to continue talks with the Sinopec Corp. over developing the Yadavaran Oilfield in south Iran.

Experts from the Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) and the head of legal affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will travel to China to continue talks, PEDEC's managing director said.

Mehdi Bazargan noted that Iran and China have so far held several rounds of negotiations over the field, which have brought views closer. "However, it is premature to comment on the outcome of the talks," he added.

Bazargan did not specify an exact date for the Iranians trip to China.

Meanwhile, Iran's Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh, on the sideline of a Gas Exporting Countries Forum meeting in Qatar, has said that Iran and China are close to a deal over the Yadavaran Oilfield.

Also, Chen Tonghai, the president of the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, known as Sinopec, has said the company is in talks on providing engineering services to the Yadavaran field.

The state-owned Sinopec Group was not looking for an equity stake in the Yadavaran field, but if a deal is reached it would share profits from the field once it begins production, he told reporters during a news conference in Hong Kong following the release of the company's 2006 financial results.

"The negotiations (of an engineering contract) are underway, but it's very complicated," Chen said.

Sinopec and NIOC signed a memorandum of understanding in October 2004, which allows the Chinese to buy $100b of oil and gas from Iran over 25 years. It also covers the purchase of 150,000 bpd of crude at the market rate.

The Yadavaran Oilfield is estimated to have 17 billion barrels of reserves and production is to reach 300,000 bpd in two phases.

PEDEC is a subsidiary of the NIOC.

FK/PC/KB