Neka, Mazandaran prov, Aug 17, IRNA – Iran will soon restart oil swaps with littoral countries of the Caspian Sea in north of the country, a senior oil official announced Wednesday.
Hamid Reza Shahdoost, head of Shomal (North) Oil Terminals, said the preliminaries to the swap deals have begun and the oil tankers can berth here to start oil exchange soon.
At present, Iran is capable of swapping 120,000 barrels of oil per day that will be raised to 1.5 million barrels after adding 14 more docks to the three existing ones, he said.
National Iranian Oil Company has ordered the related bodies of the country to be ready for oil swap, the official said.
Through swap deals, oil of the littoral states of the Caspian Sea will be consumed in Iran, and the same amount of oil will be exported from southern ports of the country, he added.
Swap of crude oil which stopped in July, 2012 is to be resumed after holding due talks, he stressed.
Oil swap is important for Iran due to both economic and political reasons, Shahdoost said.
The then Iranian minister of petroleum decided to make a halt to swap of crude oil of Central Asia’s countries through Iran about six years ago.
Experts believe that the decision questioned the security of route of transit of energy via Iran.
Iran’s both strategic and geographical position have made it possible to stabilize its safe energy transit route through swap deals and with low cost.
IRNA