"Oil shortage in the international market will fail to be filled, in case of embargo on Iranian "black gold", Secretary General of OPEC Abdalla Salem El-Badri said, Reuters reported.
"I sincerely hope, that EU will not impose an embargo on ranian oil exports. Otherwise, the resulting deficiency in the international market of "black gold" will be difficult to fill," - he said.
The EU agreed to tighten sanctions on Iran at a Dec. 1 meeting in Brussels, blacklisting certain individuals and companies.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) as of January 2011, Iran has an estimated 137 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, 9.3 percent of the world's total reserves and over 12 percent of OPEC reserves.
In 2010, Iran exported approximately 2.2 million bbl/d of crude oil. Last year Iran's net oil export revenues amounted to approximately $73 billion.
Edited by S. Isayev