Iran ready up oil exports after sanctions lifted

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

Iran’s oil minister has voiced his country’s readiness to double its oil exports only several months after sanctions are lifted.

Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, Iran’s minister of petroleum said the Islamic Republic stands ready to increase its oil exports by one million barrels per day a few months after sanctions against the country are lifted, Iranian media reported.

He noted that the increase in Iran’s crude export will not decrease oil prices.

“We seek to remove the cruel sanctions which have violated the rights of the Iranian nation,” Zangeneh said, adding that the country has managed to launch seven phases of South Pars gas field despite the sanctions.

The U.S. and EU imposed sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors at the beginning of 2012 due to claims of potential deviation toward non-civilian purposes in Iran's nuclear energy program. Iran has repeatedly denied Western allegations against its nuclear energy program.

The sanctions are aimed to prevent other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran. At the end of 2012, the EU foreign ministers reached an agreement on another round of sanctions against Iran.

Iran’s total in-place oil reserves have been estimated at more than 560 billion barrels, with about 140 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Heavy and extra heavy varieties of crude oil account for roughly 70-100 billion barrels of the total reserves.

Foreign oil giants have expressed interest in returning to Iran’s projects as sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic’s energy sector are widely hoped to be eased as a result of Tehran’s nuclear talks with six world powers for a final accord.

Iranian officials earlier said Spain’s Repsol, Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum (BP), France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Lukoil have shown willingness for investment in Iran.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh earlier announced that the country will hold a briefing session for foreign companies to announce new arrangements regarding Iran's oil and natural gas development contracts. He said the duration of the contracts with foreign companies would be extended to "15-20 years" compared to the typical 10 years at present.