Oil Ministry Official: Removing Iran’s Oil from Market Impossible
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The US efforts to cut Iran oil exports will remain futile since removing the country's crude and condensate from global market is not an easy task in near future, an Iranian oil ministry official told Tasnim.
“This big claim (of cutting Iran oil supply) is not feasible because last month Iran exported 2.8 million barrels of crude oil and condensate per day . The figure stands at around 2.5 million barrels (per day), and removing this from the global market in a few month-period is not possible,” the informed official at Iran oil ministry told the Tasnim News Agency in response to a senior US State Department official who said the Trump administration ramps up pressure on allies to cut off funding to Iran.
Reuters had earlier reported that the United States has told countries to cut all imports of Iranian oil from November.
“Yes, we are asking them to go to zero,” the US official said when asked if the United States was pushing allies, including China and India, to cut oil imports to zero by November.
In reply, the Iranian oil ministry official said some European companies such as Shell and Total have stopped buying Iranian oil over the past few weeks but Iran is still exporting oil to Europe, Asia, and elsewhere in the world.
Asked about Iran's reaction in case of the implementation of the US plan, the official said, “Iran is prepared for the worst-case scenarios".
"The most pessimistic scenarios have been predicted in Iran's oil sale plans, and each scenario has an operational alternative because Iran provides its foreign currencies through exporting oil ..."
The Iranian oil ministry official also reacting to a possible operationalization of a US decision to fill gap in oil market, and said, “Unlike what US officials think, there is no surplus capacity for Saudi Arabia, the UAE and etc. to supply oil for a long term."
According to earlier report by Reuters, the US official had said that a delegation was headed to the Middle East next week to urge Persian Gulf producers to ensure global oil supplies as Iran is cut out of the market starting on Nov. 4 when US sanctions are re-imposed.