Baku, Azerbaijan, May 16
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran plans to increase the oil swap capacity at its northern port of Neka on the Caspian coast to 2.5 million barrels per day (mb/d), said Amir Hossein Zamaninia, Iran's deputy oil minister for international affairs.
The port currently has the capacity to swap 130,000 barrels of crude oil per day, Zamaninia said, the oil ministry's SHANA news agency reported May 16.
Based on a three-stage project, the capacity will increase to 500,000 b/d, then to one mb/d and finally to 2.5 mb/d, the official explained.
He did not unveil the details about the time period, in which the project will be implemented.
Iran has held initial talks with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Russia and Kazakhstan on crude oil swaps.
Zamaninia earlier said that oil and oil product's swap is among the priorities of Iran's oil ministry within the sixth five-year national development plan (2016-2021).
The Islamic Republic plans to resume the swap of oil products, primarily natural gas liquids, with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, in the wake of removal of international sanctions.
Under oil swap agreements, which started in 1997 and were in place for over 12 years, Iran received crude oil of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in the Neka port and delivered an equal volume to the clients of the same countries in Persian Gulf.
Tehran would receive a transit fee from Caspian states over this.