Iran has signed a deal worth up to $35 million with China Oilfield Services Ltd to drill the deep waters of the Caspian Sea, an executive of Iran\'s North Drilling Company (NDC) said in a television interview. The Chinese company will be paid not only to drill in the 700-metre deep waters, generally considered by upstream experts as beyond Iran\'s technical capabilities, but will train NDC staff over the next three years. \"The deal will be for three years and be worth some $34 or $35 million dollars,\" NDC Managing Director Heydar Bahmani told state television. The workers will be based on the Alborz platform and drilling should start there after March, the Oil Ministry\'s Web site said. Iran is focusing most of its offshore efforts on the giant South Pars oil and gas field, which lies in the shallow waters of the Gulf. China\'s booming economy gets some 12 percent of its oil imports from Iran and several of its companies are active in the Islamic Republic\'s hydrocarbons sector. China is also looking to buy liquefied natural gas from Iran after 2009 and develop the giant Yadavaran oilfield. (Reuters)