European Oil Debt to Iran Reaches Four Billion Dollars

The director of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company states that Iran's oil receivables from Royal Dutch Shell and the countries of Greece and Italy amount to four billion dollars. According to Shana news agency, the information network of Iran's Ministry of Oil, Mohsen Qamsari, the international director of the oil company, said on Saturday, May 8, that Iran currently has no oil debt to any European company. He mentioned that Iran's last oil debt was to the Italian company Eni, which has been settled. He continued, 'In terms of oil receivables, we currently have a total of over four billion dollars owed to us by Greece, Shell, and Italy, which they have stated they will pay immediately after the sanctions are lifted.' Before the imposition of sanctions, Iran had a two billion dollar debt from the implementation of buy-back projects to the Italian oil company Eni and a 600 million dollar debt to Norway's Statoil. According to Iranian officials, these debts have been settled through the export of liquefied gas and oil to these companies. So far, the details of Greece and Italy's debts from importing Iranian oil have not been precisely published, but Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, Iran's oil minister, had stated in May of last year that the debt of the Dutch-British oil company Royal Dutch Shell to Iran was two billion and 300 million dollars. Mr. Qamsari, in another part of his speech, referred to the lifting of sanctions and Iran's oil exports, stating that Iranian crude oil has been sanctioned for years, but only the purchase of this country's crude oil is sanctioned, as we have no problem selling this commodity. According to this oil official, buyers have been limited and sanctioned by Western countries whenever they wanted to purchase Iranian crude oil. The international director of the National Iranian Oil Company stated that the country currently exports more than one million barrels of oil per day, and with the lifting of sanctions, this figure could immediately increase by 500,000 barrels per day. Mr. Qamsari discussed the priority of selling Iranian oil and selling to European countries, stating that the Asian market is the first priority for selling Iranian oil due to proximity and distance, just as 62 percent of Iran's oil was exported to Asia before sanctions. Before Western sanctions, Iran had a daily oil export of 2.5 million barrels, of which 450,000 barrels, or 18 percent of the country's total oil exports, went to European markets, but after Western sanctions in mid-2012, Iran's oil exports to Europe were halted. Qamsari also mentioned negotiations with Western companies to resume buying Iranian oil, stating that discussions have been held with several customers from Western companies, and they are ready to buy Iranian oil immediately after the sanctions are lifted. Simultaneously, Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, who has traveled to Germany, has begun negotiations with companies in that country regarding oil and gas. The Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday, quoting Mr. Zangeneh, that he is also negotiating with regional countries for gas agreements, adding that these agreements will be finalized after the lifting of sanctions. Iran has contracts with Iraq, Oman, and Pakistan for gas exports. Iran also exports about ten billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey annually.