By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 30
Iran is still studying export of Iraq’s oil through its territory, Ali Kardor, the Islamic Republic’s deputy oil minister, said, IRNA news agency reported Aug. 30.
Talks were held with Iraqi officials on the issue, Kardor said.
Kardor, who heads the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said that no details have been discussed so far.
Iran should study the conditions to define whether the project will be in its favor or not, he added.
“Given that East Asian markets are main destination of Iraqi oil and the Islamic Republic also exports its oil to the same markets, we must make sure that the plan will not affect our export,” Kardor said.
It's not clear yet that transport of oil from Iraq and Iraqi Kurdish region would be in the form of swap or transit, he added.
Earlier Reuters quoted Iraq’s Deputy Oil Minister Fayadh al-Nema as saying Iraq's government would consider selling crude through Iran if talks with the autonomous Kurdish region on an oil revenue-sharing agreement fail.
Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) plans to hold talks with the KRG, possibly next week, about Iraqi oil exported through Turkey, al-Nema said.
"If the negotiations come to a close" without an agreement "we will start to find a way in order to sell our oil because we need money, either to Iran or other countries", he added.