Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 28
By Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend:
French Total is planning to sign a deal with Iran to purchase crude oil.
"Total is going to sign a contract to purchase 150,000-200,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude oil," Press TV quoted Total's Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne as saying Jan. 28.
Before sanctions were imposed in 2012 over Iran, EU was importing about 800,000 barrels of Iranian oil and condensate.
The commencement of the nuclear deal on Jan. 16 eliminated sanctions and European companies can resume oil purchase from Iran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani started his visit to France today.
Iranian government ordered the National Oil Company to add 500,000 barrels per day to production level and increase this volume to one mbpd in the second half of 2016.
Before Total, Greece's biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum agreed on Friday to buy crude oil from Iran.
Hellenic Petroleum was a major buyer of Iranian crude, which accounted for about 20 percent of the southeast European country's annual crude oil imports before sanctions were imposed on Tehran in 2011, according to a Reuters report.