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Iran confirms resuming oil export to EU

Business Materials 17 October 2014 14:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 17

By Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend:

Iran confirmed that the first oil cargo was exported to Italy in July.

The European Union banned importing oil from Iran in July, 2012, but Italy was allowed to import Iranian oil due to Iran having debts to the country.

Mohsen Ghamsari, head of the international affairs office at the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) confirmed that Iran exported crude oil to Itany's Eni company.

However, he rejected that Iran has $2 billion worth of debts to Eni, Shana news reported on Oct.17.

This is while the Wall Street Journal reported on Oct.15 that Italian oil giant Eni SpA took delivery of what is believed to be the first tanker of Iranian oil to Italy in two years in July as part of an existing exemption agreement.

The report says the delivery was made as part of an exemption clause in the European Union's ban on Iranian oil that was granted to Eni as part of a debt repayment. In 2012, Iran owed $2-billion-worth of crude oil for services rendered on the development of an Iranian oil field.

The move underscores a slight easing in heavily restricted trade between Iran and the West following an interim nuclear agreement in November 2013.

Eni had previously struggled to find tankers to take Iranian oil because of broader sanctions against the country.

In its monthly oil market report, the International Energy Agency said Italy had imported 20,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil in July.

The delivery is the first since June 2012-that came on the eve of an EU embargo which started the following month.

Italy's refiners' association Unione Petrolifera confirmed the shipment-equivalent to a tanker of 600,000 barrels-in its latest report published on its website at an undisclosed date, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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