Astana, Kazakhstan, Dec. 9
By Daniar Mukhtarov - Trend:
Resumption of oil swaps between Kazakhstan and Iran has to do only with the settlement of commercial issues, rather than the technical ones, Kayrgeldy Kabyldin, the chairman of the Kazakh oil transporting company KazTransOil, told Trend.
He added that among these issues there are questions such as: how much will the mutual settlements with Iran be acceptable for Kazakhstan; how will the oil quality assessment be carried out [Kazakh oil with high paraffin content, and the light Iranian oil]; how will the swap payments be carried out.
Kabyldin reminded that earlier Kazakhstan and Iran had their own scheme of swap operations.
"This route needs to be revived only through the settlement of commercial issues, namely through the resumption of payments," he said.
"For now not all sanctions on Iran have been lifted, but all hope that they will be lifted in a short term," Kabyldin noted.
In autumn 2014, during an official visit of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani to Astana, it was announced that Kazakhstan and Iran can resume oil swaps.
"In the transport sector, we were used to conduct oil swap operations, but they were suspended," Rouhani said after the talks with the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in September.
"We discussed the possibility of resumption of these operations, as this is an important issue," the Iranian president added.
Edited by SI