TEHRAN: Iran says it is ready to increase its oil exports to Spain to levels that existed before the US-led sanctions were put into place.
Mohsen Qamsari, the director for international affairs of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), has told reporters that discussions to increase the level of oil exports to Spain had started previously.
“We are still to arrive at a figure for oil exports to Spain,” Qamsari told reporters. “But Iran used to export 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the pre-sanctions period”.
Iran, the official added, will still have to wait for the sanctions to be removed fully to better decide how much oil it can export to Spain.
Qamsari further emphasized that a large share of future oil exports to Europe will be provided from a planned output surge of 500,000 bpd in Iran’s crude output capacity.
“We are determined to make our oil exports diverse,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting between Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh and the visiting Spanish Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism José Manuel Soria.
“The Europeans will nonetheless remain Iran’s crude clients the same way that they were before the sanctions were put in place”.
Soria arrived in Tehran on Monday heading a 70-member delegation to explore the avenues to promote Iran-Spain trade relations.
Iran’s Oil Minister Zangeneh told reporters after meeting Soria that Spain has voiced readiness to help Iran with its plans to export gas to Europe through its LNG terminals.
Zangeneh emphasized that discussions between Tehran and Madrid over the same issue will continue in the near future.
