It seems that Iran is having no trouble in selling oil despite of US sanctions, that is what Iran’s central bank’s governor was quoted as saying in The Saturday report by semiofficial news agency, Mehr. Mahmoud Bahmani said that Iran is easily able to sell oil and is facing no particular trouble due to the US sanctions on Tehran’s nuclear program.
These comments come just days before the EU embargo on Iran’s crude oil is all set to take effect on July 1. Apparently Iran’s ease in sale of oil is the result of waivers that have been given to countries like India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan and a total of 10 EU nations that had significantly reduced their oil imports from Iran in the year of 2011 and 2012. The fresh entrees to this list of waivers are China and Singapore, their ‘immunity’ was awarded this Thursday in an email drafted by US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton.
Iran is the second largest producer of oil in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after Saudi Arabia. A huge chunk of the country’s revenues are generated from export of oil. With the international oil prices falling below $100 a barrel, Rostam Ghasemi, Iran’s oil minister has called for an emergency OPEC meeting to discuss and make amends on the decreasing rates of oil.
The production limit for OPEC is 30 million barrels per day and Iran wants this quota to be strictly observed. Iranian oil ministry is voicing the same concerns as those expressed by Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani who has emphasized that OPEC has to decrease its oil supply to stabilize the oil prices. Similar opinion was given by Venezuela’s Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, earlier this year. For OPEC to cut down on oil supply, Saudi Arabia will have to comply which seems highly unlikely, given the country’s history of producing and exporting oil to its maximum limit.
On Friday, oil prices of brent and US crude hit their lowest quarterly rate since 2008, however prices jumped up about 9.4 percent (or $7.27) to $85 for US crude and rose about 7 percent (or $6.44) to $95 for brent crude in London.
