Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 24 / Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
"If there will be mutual trust, and negotiation goes on well, then Saudi Arabia could provide necessary amount of oil to the countries heavily dependant on Iran's oil exports," EU economic advisor Mehrdad Emadi told Trend, speaking about the country that could become a substitute for Iran, after sanctions have been imposed on the Islamic Republic.
Answering the question on why some experts claim the countries that are heavily dependant on Iran's oil reacted relatively calm on the imposed oil sanctions on Iran, Emadi said it wouldn't have happened if these countries were not sure they would be provided with steady oil flow.
"Countries that heavily depend on Iran's oil exports couldn't have been soft as far as sanctions are concerned, if they did not have any kind of backup plan," Emadi noted. "About two weeks ago, Saudi Arabia's officials met with their counterparts from Italy, Spain, Greece , and it was said that its necessary to provide these countries with a steady oil import".
The European Union banned imports of oil from Iran on Monday and agreed to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank, joining the United States in a new round of measures. The latest sanctions by the European Union will be fully enforced by July 1. The sanctions on Iran oil is fraught with risks - of rising energy prices and global financial instability. Among countries most dependant on Iran's oil are Spain, Italy and Greece.
"In this context, I believe the same kind of partnership these oil-dependant countries could establish with Russia," Emadi added.
He went on by saying that Russia is playing a double game, by on one hand disagreeing with one-way sanctions against Iran, and on the other hand agrees to sell its oil to European countries.
"Unfortunately, this theory seems to be working for real, and Iran is the one country suffering most. Russia disagrees with one-way sanctions against Iran, but oil companies in Russia are also in negotiations with European countries on the possible oil sale," Emadi said.
"Russia can start trasporting oil in the upcoming months, and this is a concern. While Iran is having sanctions imposed on it, Russia tries to fill in the gap with its own oil exports," he said.
As of now, the EU imports about 25 percent of its gas and over 20 percent of oil from Russia. More than 80 percent (83 percent or 183 million tons, in 2010) of Russia's crude oil exports is shipped to the Atlantic market, primarily, to Europe. The demand for oil in Europe, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of Russia's oil exports, has mostly remained stagnant, while at the same time decreasing in a number of countries, primarily, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Belgium.
As for Iran, the EU currently imports around 5,8 percent of oil from the Islamic Republic. A total of 68 percent of EU's imports goes for Italy, Greece and Spain.
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