The Wall Street Journal reported (October 6) that the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) has pulled out of a $5 billion natural-gas project in Iran as escalating tensions threaten to sever Beijing’s trade with Tehran.  The exit by Beijing—which had vowed to resist U.S. restrictions on Iran—is a blow to Tehran’s attempts to fight growing economic isolation and comes after Washington brought new sanctions on Chinese companies still trading with Iran. Iranian oil minister Bijan Zangeneh said October 6, that domestic company Petropars Co. had fully taken over a development project in the South Pars gas field after CNPC exited it.

(Comment: Tehran had hoped the Chinese state-run company would replace France’s Total SA, which left the project last year after the U.S. reinstated sanctions on Iran. Earlier the U.S. also blacklisted Chinese state shipping behemoth Cosco Shipping Holdings Co. , also for carrying Iranian oil, forcing the company to halt trading of shares in its oil transport unit.)