Staff of Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education arrange boxes of masks donated by China in Tehran, Iran, on February 25, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)

The outbreak of COVID-19 in Iran is getting worse. But analysts said that the coronavirus epidemic in the oil-producing country will not affect China's crude imports or Chinese enterprises in Iran.

As of Monday, the total death toll rose to 237, with confirmed cases at 7,161. Iran is the most affected country in the Middle East.

Qu Xinrong, senior research fellow of the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange, said that the epidemic in Iran will not have much impact on China's crude imports.

"Due to the impact of the epidemic and the delay in the resumption of work of enterprises in China, domestic demand for crude oil has been declining and will decrease in March. Meanwhile, China's crude oil inventory is relatively high, resulting in less demand for imports," Qu told the Global Times on Monday.

According to Refinitiv, a financial markets data provider, China bought a total of 10.12 million barrels per day (bpd, or 1.38 million tons) in 2019, while the volume was less than 7 million bpd in January and February. 

"China's crude oil imports from Iran have dropped significantly since last year. Considering the fact that crude oil is settled in US dollars, it will be more difficult for Chinese companies to continue importing crude oil from Iran under US sanctions," Qu noted.

Data shows China imported 14.77 million tons of crude from Iran in 2019, an annual decline of 49.5 percent. Imports from Iran only accounted for 2.92 percent of total imports as China imported 506 million tons of crude oil in 2019, according to the General Administration of Customs. 

"Although the outbreak of COVID-19 in Iran will not have much influence on China, we should remain vigilant to see whether the coronavirus will further spread in other oil-producing countries," Wang Lining, deputy director of Oil Market Research Department at the Economics and Technology Research Institute of China National Petroleum Corp, told the Global Times on Monday. 

"Despite the severe outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran, the impact on Chinese companies is limited. First, most of Chinese companies have left Iran due to US sanctions. Second, more than 90 percent of Chinese enterprises and their personnel are located in Tehran, where only a few cases of COVID-19 have been reported," an Iran-based Chinese businessman who preferred not to be identified told the Global Times on Monday.