Baku, Azerbaijan, May 15
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran has no deal with Russia to export crude oil, said Mohsen Ghamsari, director of international affairs at National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC).
However, certain European customers of Iran have sold Iranian crude oil to Russian refineries in single consignments, Ghamsari said, Fars news agency reported May 15.
He further explained that it occurred in the past as well, in the pre-sanction period.
Earlier, Iranian oil officials said that Russian Lukoil company is among the Islamic Republic's European customers and a deal on crude oil export will be concluded with the company in the near future.
Last February Lukoil purchased crude oil from Iran to supply its refinery in Romania. On Feb. 14, three oil tankers including one of Lukoil, sailed from Iran's Kharg Island to Europe.
Rokneddin Javadi, Iran's deputy oil minister, said May 13 that Iran's oil export to EU increased to 600,000 barrels per day, which is equal to 30-35 percent in Iran's total oil export.
Iran prefers to sell oil directly to the final consumers, like refineries, and avoids dealing with intermediaries and distributors, Javadi said, adding Russia's Lukoil, Spain's Cepsa, Italy's Saras and Greece's Hellenic Petroleum purchase Iranian oil, while a new round of negotiations over oil export to other European companies continues.
He added that currently Iran exports 2 million barrels per day (mb/d) of crude oil as well as 0.5 mb/d of gas condensate in total.