Tehran, Iran, May 9
Trend:
The crude oil sales have declined compared to past year, but the illegal oil sales surpass the oil product exports, Member of Swap, Tranzit and Bunkering Commission at Iranian Oil, Gas & Petrochemical Products Exporters Association, Morteza Firouzi told Trend.
"The truth is that at international energy markets, around 90 million barrels of crude oil are traded every day, and from 7 to 10 percent of it is sold via smuggling," he said.
He then compared the previous sanctions on Iran with the current ones.
"During previous sanctions, we couldn't even sell oil through smuggling, since the UN Security Council had issued resolution against Iran, so all countries were obligated to follow," he said.
"Today, it is different. We are only sanctioned by the US government and have issues with several regional countries. Other countries welcome Iran's oil tankers, and no military force has any right to interfere in this matter," said Firouzi.
He went on to add that if the situation worsens, Iran has no other choice but to try and sell oil on gray markets.
Firouzi indicated that the crude oil sale in gray markets is easier than selling oil products.
"Through the years we sold oil products through Fujairah port but it is getting hard because of the UAE, but if we could identify other markets in the private sector, it would've been easier. For example now it is the time to use markets in Qatar and Oman," he suggested.
"At the moment, many countries that are trading partners of Iran should think of a way for transactions with Iran. The Chinese, the Russians and Europeans should find a way to bypass the US obstacles. By help of other countries, we can overcome the financial problems that were caused by sanctions, since we do not have the economic ability to stand up to sanctions alone."