Baku, Azerbaijan, June 11
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Almost 80 percent of Iran's crude oil export contracts to Europe became operational, Mohsen Ghamsari, director of international affairs at National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC), said.
Iran has signed contracts to export 600-700 thousand barrels of crude oil to various European refineries on a daily basis, of them almost 80 percent have became operational, Ghamsari said, SHANA news agency reported June 11.
He further said that Spain's Cepsa, Italy's Iplom and Saras as well as Greek Hellenic Petroleum have signed deals to purchase crude oil from Tehran.
The aforementioned firms carry the purchased crude oil consignments by themselves, he said, adding, some of the deals are long-term contracts.
Ghamsari also said that Tehran has also sold an oil consignment to Shell Company in the form of spot cargo.
The Iranian official added that talks are underway with leading European firms including Shell on crude oil sale.
Iran's crude output stood at 4.2 million bpd before the sanctions, some 2.3 million bpd of which used to be exported. Under the sanctions the output fell to 3.3 million bpd while the exports dropped to 1 million bpd.
Since the sanctions were lifted in January, Iran has increased the crude export to some 2.2 million bpd aiming to redeem its previous place in the world market.
Iran's oil output also reached 3.5 million barrels per day in April, according to the OPEC.
