Azerbaijan, Baku, May 13/ Trend F.Milad/
The Oil Ministry of Iran has permitted the private sector to start activities for exporting crude oil to international markets, the head of the Iranian oil exporters union stated.
The IRNA News Agency quoted Hassan Khosrojerdi as saying that the private sector entities are not allowed to export crude oil consignments to the destinations, such as China and India, to which the government is regularly exporting crude oil.
The private sector is insisting on exporting crude oil to refineries abroad and supply refined products to international markets, he said.
"Based on the permission, the private sector can carry out the exports of 20% of Iran's crude oil exports or 400,000 barrels on a daily basis," Khosrojerdi said.
Khosrojerdi pointed to the sanctions against Iran's central bank, which handles receipts from oil sales, saying the sale of crude oil by the private sector would overcome this restriction.
EU foreign ministers agreed January 23 to a ban from July 1 on all imports of crude oil and petrochemicals from Iran, which last year exported an estimated 500,000 barrels per day of crude to the European market. The sanctions also ban dealings with the central bank of Iran and other state-owned financial institutions and banks, making it virtually impossible to transfer funds to Tehran.