The European Union formally imposed an oil embargo on Iran on January 23, but existing contracts will be honored until July 1.
 
Managing director of the National Iranian Oil Terminals Company Pirouz Mousavi said on Monday that the National Iranian Oil Company plans to start using a new storage facility at the Kharg Island oil terminal in the northern Persian Gulf and that the project is almost complete.
 
“The new storage facility has a capacity of one million barrels of crude oil,” Mousavi said.
 
According to Reuters, storage capacity at Kharg Island, which is Iran’s largest oil export terminal, was reported to be 16 million barrels as of mid-2008.
 
As envisaged in Iran’s 20-Year Outlook Plan (2005-2025), which is the country’s main blueprint for long-term sustainable growth, Iran should increase crude storage capacity at the Kharg Island oil terminal to 31 million barrels.
 
Four other new storage facilities are also being built on Kharg Island with the overall capacity of 4 million barrels of crude.