Iran sits on the world’s second-largest gas reserves after Russia but US trade restrictions have frustrated plans to develop them for export and booming domestic demand has made Iran the third-largest consumer and a top-30 importer.

New European Union bans on supplying energy equipment make it almost impossible for Tehran to get full-scale liquefaction (LNG) technology from Germany’s Siemens, with the only other process patented by US industrial giant and military supplier GE already off limits under US laws.

“It just makes it more clear that if LNG is going to happen from Iran it’s going to have to be under the blanket of the Chinese and the Chinese are going to have to come up with their own technology,” Noel Tomnay, global gas analyst at Wood Mackenzie in Edinburgh said of the EU sanctions. “The Chinese have been working on this for quite some time ... and if that were to happen successfully then Iranian LNG, under a dedicated China project, could still proceed but that’s very uncertain.”

China’s National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a deal this year to develop the South Pars field, replacing France’s Total, as part of an international search by state-run Chinese energy companies to fuel rapid economic growth.

One analyst said China’s interest in developing Iranian gas export projects could have been tempered by slower economic growth and healthy LNG supply from other producing countries.

Industry observers have long doubted Iranian claims it would soon catch up with neighbouring Qatar, with which it shares the world’s largest gas field, and whose booming exports have made it the leading LNG exporter.

Sanctions, together with endemic delays to Iranian gas projects, have deterred western companies from dipping into the Iranian end of the field. Two weeks after the EU banned technology transfers by European companies or citizens to Iran, Tehran finally admitted plans to build two new plants.

Ducab’s most recent agreement with Japan’s JGC Corporation is valued at Dh51 million for the supply of custom power cables to the new Habshan 5 Gas Processing Plant.  This follows the signing of a contract recently with Hyundai Engineering & Construction for supporting the utilities and offsite part of the development, a Dh75 million agreement which could see Ducab supplying up to 70 per cent of the associated facility’s total power cables requirements.