India's Essar Oil Ltd had planned to develop the Azadegan field but abandoned the plan under U.S. pressure. Spokesmen in China for CNOOC's listed unit and for CNPC were not immediately available for comment due to a national holiday. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country's top energy group, clinched a deal this year to develop phase 11 of the South Pars gas project and expand its operations in Iran. CNPC is already in a deal to develop Iran's North Azadegan oilfield into a 120,000-bpd field at a cost of at least $2 billion. China's Sinopec Group reached a $2 billion deal to develop Iran's Yadavaran oil field in December 2007.