Tehran, Oct 7, IRNA Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zageneh on Monday stressed the need for removing existing ambiguities of the crude oil swap and called for more transparency in that regard.As long as the ambiguities in the crude oil swap were not removed, no serious operation would be carried out in that field, said the minister.
Commenting on the issue, Director of International Affairs of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Mohsen Qamsari voiced Tehrans readiness to continue its crude oil swap operation with the Caspian Sea littoral states.
Maintaining its national interest, Iran swaps its crude oil with its northern neighboring states, Qamsari has recently said.
Iran can handle the swap of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil with the Caspian Sea and Central Asian states. Necessary infrastructures have also existed to deliver crude oil in southern Iran.
Iran oil swap operations are being carried out by the Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), a subsidiary of NIOC.
Iran started its oil swap with the Caspian Sea and Central Asian states in 1997.
The oil swap project saves Iran the costs of carrying 500,000 bpd of oil from south to north to feed Tehran, Arak and Tabriz oil refineries.
According to analysts, Iran represents the best route for energy transfer in the region as this route is shorter and less costly than Russia, Turkey and China routes.
By IRNA
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