TEHRAN – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said U.S. energy firms are the main losers from the sanctions placed against his country.

Speaking at the 173 OPEC meeting in Vienna on Thursday, Zanganeh called U.S.’s policy confusing and self-defeating, CNBC reported.

“I don’t understand why U.S. companies cannot enter the Iranian market. They cannot get involved in the biggest oil projects in the world, taking place here in Iran,” he said.

Renewing cuts

Zanganeh also referred to OPEC’s decision on renewing the cuts, saying “We decided to roll over the past decision to the end of 2018, and Nigeria and Libya accepted not to produce more than their production in 2017 for all of 2018.”
“We didn’t set a figure [for Libya and Nigeria], but both are less than 2.8 [million bpd].” He added.

Iran, Iraq discuss terms of oil swap

Also according to a report by Platts, the Iranian minister met with his Iraqi counterpart late Thursday for the latest round of talks on the terms of a crude swap deal that will help supply some of Iran’s refineries with feedstock and unlock Iraq’s shut-in crude at Kirkuk.

The first phase of the swap deal will involve trucking crude from Iraq’s northern Kirkuk field, followed by the construction of a pipeline in the second phase, Zanganeh told reporters after the meeting.

EF/MG