Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Many countries buy oil from Iran, and because these countries have built their oil refineries by taking Iran's oil into account, as it is the best oil for the production of petrol, Mohammad Javad Asemipour, former advisor to Iranian Oil Minister and former executive director of National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC), told the Young Journalists Club (YJC), Trend reports.
With its light oil having “an API gravity of 29 degrees” and its heavy oil having “36 degrees”, Iranian oil is defined as being the most optimal for various oil refineries in the world, according to Asemipour.
It is therefore that oil refineries built by taking Iranian oil into account should spend a lot of money to find alternatives and change their equipment, Asemipour added.
"With its minimum sulfur content and low salinity, Iranian oil is the best and the least expensive oil for oil refineries around the world," he said.
Asemipour continued that there were sanctions against Iran in 2004-2008 as well, and that 4 million barrels of crude oil were produced daily at the time. Also, 2 million barrels of crude oil were sold daily and 1.7 million barrels were being sent to Iran's oil refineries.
“According to the latest statistics on Iran's oil production acquired last year (started March 21, 2018), Iran currently produces 3.4 million barrels of oil, about 2 million barrels of which are used as fuel for oil refineries. As a matter of fact, Iran has 1.2 million barrels of oil per day remaining for exports – and that is purchased by traditional customers, such as Japan, China and India, on a contractual basis,” he concluded.
The US imposed sanctions on Iran in November 2018. The US exempted eight countries from oil sanctions imposed on Iran for six months. These countries continue to buy oil from Iran. The US announced that it will not extend the exemption period, which ends May 2, 2019.