Wen Jiabao to visit Gulf energy powers BEIJING, January 10 - China's premier Wen Jiabao will visit three key Middle Eastern oil and gas suppliers - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar - from this weekend, amid signs that Beijing wants to expand its options in the face of US sanctions aimed at Iran. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Mr Wen would meet host leaders, including Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, to "thoroughly exchange views on developing bilateral relations and on international and regional issues of common concern." Mr Wen's six-day trip comes as Iran faces tightening western sanctions over its nuclear programme. Beijing faces pressure to go along with the US sanctions by cutting what it pays for Iranian oil, if not the volume it buys. China already cut oil imports from Iran in January and February in a dispute over contract terms, and has been looking for alternative supplies. Mr Wen's talks are sure to cover, at least in general terms, energy co-operation with his Middle Eastern hosts, said Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University in east China. "On any visit to the Middle East, these issues will be discussed," Mr Lin told Reuters by telephone. "Generally, there will be something that comes out of a visit like this, because a visit by a premier is not your average visit," he said of discussions on oil and gas. China bought a combined 1.15m barrels a day from these three nations in the first 11 months of 2011, customs data showed, nearly a quarter of its total crude imports. US President Barack Obama recently authorised a law imposing sanctions on financial institutions that deal with Iran's central bank, its main clearing house for oil exports. US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner was due to arrive in Beijing late on Tuesday for talks that were likely to cover the banking sanctions against Iran. China has backed UN Security Council resolutions calling on Iran to halt uranium enrichment activities, while working to ensure its energy ties are not threatened. Saudi Arabia is already China's top international source of crude oil. In the first 11 months of 2011, it supplied China with 45.5m tonnes of crude, a rise of 12.9 per cent over the same period in 2010. Angola and Iran were the second- and third-biggest suppliers. Qatar is a major supplier of liquefied natural gas to China, and in the first 11 months of 2011 it shipped 1.8 million tonnes of LNG to China, a rise of 75.9 per cent over the same period in 2010.