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Russia to sell Iran’s oil

Business Materials 7 June 2015 13:40 (UTC +04:00)
Tehran and Moscow achieved a final agreement for export of Iran’s crude oil by Russia, Mohsen Qamsari.
Russia to sell Iran’s oil

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 7

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

Tehran and Moscow achieved a final agreement for export of Iran's crude oil by Russia, Mohsen Qamsari, the director of the International Affairs Department at National Iranian Oil Company said.

Qamsari underlined that the agreement is not a sort of bartering.

Russia will export Iran's oil and the revenues will be transferred to a joint fund, Qamsari said, Iran's Mehr news agency reported June 7.

He further said that the Islamic Republic will be able to buy goods and equipments using the fund's assets.

There is no ceiling for the sale of the Iranian oil by Russia, Qamsari said, adding however while Iran has commitments to sell oil to other destinations as well, exports to Russia will not include all of Iran's crude output.

Iran's oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on June 5 that Russia may start importing crude from Iran next week as part of an oil-for-goods agreement.

"Much of this will be for cash and we will be using this money to buy commodities from the Russians," Zanganeh said.

He explained that Russia plans to buy much lower than 500,000 barrels per day in exchange for cash, which Iran will then spend on Russian goods including steel, wheat and oil byproducts.

Kazakhstan and Belarus will be able to purchase Iranian crude shipments from Russia under the agreement because they are part of the Eurasian Customs Union, Zanganeh added.

By holding 157 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of crude oil.

Iranian oil exports have dropped by 50 percent since international sanctions against the country were tightened in 2011 amid a dispute over its nuclear program. Iran's current oil production is estimated to be around 2.8 million barrels per day of which about one million barrels are exported.

Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh

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