Baku, Azerbaijan, May 15
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
One of the ways for Iran to counteract sanctions is to export oil products instead of crude oil, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, former head of the National Iranian Oil Company, said.
The US has imposed sanctions on Iran and it is possible to determine that this is Iranian crude oil, Khatibi added, Trend reports referring to Mehr News Agency.
"But it is impossible to do with oil products. For example, if Iran exports gasoline, the country supplying crude oil for the production of this gasoline will not be determined," he added.
Therefore, the production and export of oil products is the most effective way to reduce the pressure as a result of oil sanctions and get profit, Khatibi said.
Commenting on the non-OPEC countries' oil production, he said that these countries will increase oil production up to 2.2 million barrels this year. This will lead to a decline in OPEC countries’ oil production.
"The supply will increase in the oil market this year. Therefore, OPEC and Russia reduced oil production by 1.2 million barrels," Khatibi said.
He said that this is actually an opportunity to impose sanctions on Iran.
Khatibi said that non-OPEC countries rarely increase oil production.
"Oil refineries can not usually use light oil. This type of oil must be mixed with heavy crude oil. If the government supports small oil refineries and provides them with fuel, the private sector will support these refineries and can achieve good results," he said.
Khatibi said that small oil refineries do not require huge investments, but the governmental support and permission are required.
He said that the private enterprises must get permission to work with small refineries. Thus, it is possible to gradually develop and build big refineries.