Azerbaijan, Baku, July 9 /Trend S.Isayev/
It is possible that Total and Shell have contracts with Iran that they are legally obliged to complete, Senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, James M. Dorsey told Trend.
The expert was commenting on the news that Iranian oil transportation provider co-operates with Shell and Total, according to Iranian media.
"They could also possibly work through front companies," Dorsey noted.
The expert underscored however that neither Shell or Total are likely to put their major operations at risk by violating the sanction regime.
The European Union's oil embargo on Iran took effect on July 1 and a new U.S. law that penalizes countries that do business with the Central Bank of Iran by denying their banks access to the United States market. The law came into force on June 28.
Last year, Iranian crude exports were running at about 2-2.2 million bpd with total production, including domestic consumption, at 3.5-3.6 million.
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