Oil Minister: Sanctions Unable to Halt Iranian Crude Exports

"Zanganeh guaranteed in the meeting that Iran's oil sales continue under any circumstances, specially under sanctions, and we will not allow any disruption in oil sales," Ali Sari, a senior MP, quoted Zanganeh as saying in Tehran on Tuesday in a meeting with the Iranian lawmakers.

"Sanctions leave no impact on Iran's oil sale," Zanganeh added, according to Sari.

Iran has denied US claims that sanctions have cut off the country’s oil exports to zero, saying it would exhaust any channel to ship its oil to customers around the world.

Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri said earlier this month that Tehran was ready to offer oil futures contracts for certain international buyers to offset the impacts of the US sanctions on its supply to the global markets, vowing that the country would not reduce its production at three to four million barrels per day.

Jahangiri said that contracts for buying Iran’s oil at pre-determined prices with maturity of up to three years would be available for “powerful economies”.

“Any powerful country that wishes to work with Iran can pre-order Iran’s oil for the next two to three years,” he added.

The second top government official said the measure was part of Iran’s efforts to minimize the impacts of US sanctions on the Iranian economy and its oil revenues.

Offering future oil contracts is a first of its kind for Iran, a major global supplier which used to earn around $150 billion a year from oil exports before the sanctions started in November. That would create an opportunity for buyers who believe oil prices would increase as a result of protectionist policies adopted by the US government.

Jahangiri said major buyers could count on Iran’s ability to deliver oil at future dates as the country has maintained its production at three to four million barrels per day (bpd).  

A similar mechanism has been proposed to European buyers of Iran’s oil as Tehran believes it could provide a credit line for a special company launched by Britain, France and Germany to keep up trade with Iran at the time of US sanctions.

Iran is also exempt from an agreement between major global oil exporters to maintain cuts of 1.2 million bpd until March 2020.

Late in last month, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnasser Hemmati said that the US has run out of moves to pose further pressures on Tehran, adding that his country is restoring its position in the global oil market with increasing supply to its international customers through new methods.

“I said it before and I’ll say it again, they [US] have done all they could (against Iran). We have climbed past the peak of sanctions. Our oil exports are on the rise,” Hemmati told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on June 26.