Tehran reach deal on its oil export by Moscow
By Sara Rajabova
Iranian official has said Tehran and Moscow reached a final agreement for export of Iran’s crude oil by Russia.
Mohsen Qamsari, the director of the International Affairs Department at National Iranian Oil Company, said the agreement is not a sort of bartering.
A while ago, western media reported that Russia and Iran will soon start what has been described for long as an “oil-for-goods” barter scheme. They quoted a report by Bloomberg in which Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh said the scheme will be launched within the next days.
However, Iran’s media quoted officials as saying that Iran and Russia are working on no barter plan and that the two have devised a mechanism by means of which Russia will sell Iran’s oil.
Qamsari said Russia will export Iran’s oil and the revenues will be transferred to a joint fund, Mehr news agency reported.
He further added that Tehran will be able to buy goods and equipments using the fund’s assets.
There is no ceiling for the sale of the Iranian oil by Russia, Qamsari said, adding while Iran has commitments to sell oil to other destinations as well, exports to Russia will not include all of Iran’s crude output.
Bloomberg report quoted Zangeneh as saying that Russia will buy “much lower than 500,000 barrels day” in exchange for cash, which Iran will then spend on Russian goods such as steel, wheat and oil byproducts.
He added that Kazakhstan and Belarus will be able to buy Iranian oil from Russia under the agreement, as they are part of the Eurasian Customs Union.
By holding 157 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of crude oil.
Iranian oil exports have dropped by 50 percent since international sanctions against the country were tightened in 2011 amid a dispute over its nuclear program. Iran’s current oil production is estimated to be around 2.8 million barrels per day of which about one million barrels are exported.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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