Tehran, Iran, May 5
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iran's Deputy Oil Minister in International and Trade Affairs Amir Hossein Zamani Nia said Iran and Poland have held intense talks on trading oil.
According to Zamani Nia, the talks were held in Tehran with a Polish oil delegation where exporting Iranian oil to Poland and using Polish expertise in Iranian projects were discussed, IRNA news agency reported May 5.
A delegation of 80 people from Poland traveled to Tehran on May 4.
Zamani Nia also pointed to Poland's powerful petrochemical industry and said that talks were held on conducting cooperation with the country on Iran's petrochemical projects.
He further commented on Europe's policies on its gas supply and noted that Europe is diversifying its resources in order to prevent dependence on a single country.
Last week, reports said the giant Polish oil company PKN Orlen had bought a 122 thousand metric tons shipment of Iran's gas condensates for its Mazeikiai complex. The report was dismissed as untrue, however.
Reuters quoted traders on April 24 as saying that PKN Orlen has delivered a gas condensate cargo of Iranian origin for its Mazeikiai refinery in Lithuania.
PKN Orlen said on Monday it did not deliver a gas condensate cargo of Iranian origin to its Mazeikiai refinery in Lithuania.
Iran resumed gas condensate exports to above the pre-sanctions level during the last fiscal year (March 21, 2014 - March 21, 2015).
The country exported over $14 billion worth of gas condensate per year, according to the Customs Administration's latest monthly report, released Apr. 8.
In mid-2012, the US and European Union imposed tight sanctions to force Iran to curb its sensitive nuclear activities, which has led to decline of the country's condensate export from 270,000 barrels per day in 2011 to below 160,000 barrels in mid-2013, but after easing the sanctions due to interim nuclear deal achieved in November 2013, Iran's gas condensate export soared rapidly.
Edited by CN
Mehdi Sepahvand is Trend Agency's journalist in Iran, follow him on Twitter: @mehdisepahvand