Iran Assures World of Capability to Sell Oil despite US Sanctions

“The sanctions against Iran are illegal. I cannot describe how we pass this situation to export our oil. These are secret and we cannot disclose how we fight the US which tries to wage an economic war against us. It’s very bad. We believe that oil and gas are not weapons. They are raw materials for people, nations and consumers,” Zanganeh said in Russia on Wednesday, addressing a panel of the Russian Energy Week (REW 2019).  

“I can’t deny that the sanctions have caused problem for us in the oil sector but we do our best to export our oil,” he added, assuring the world energy leaders that Iran can sell its crude despite the US sanctions. 

Zanganeh stressed that these sanctions are the “last tools” the US has used to pressure Iran.

“The US believes that they can do more. They don’t have more tools to use against Iran. All these sanctions are against the Iranian nation,” he mentioned, answering a question from the panel moderator about the US sanctions on Iran. 

The Iranian oil minister stressed that his country is faring better in the gas sector, adding, “In the gas sector, we have a good situation. By the end of the current Iranian year we will surpass the gas capacity of 7 million cubic meters around 3 billion cubic feet a day and by the end of 2021 only from the South Pars gas field which is the largest gas field in the world, the total volume will reach 27 billion cubic feet a day."

Zanganeh added that Iran’s current gas exports go to the neighboring countries, including Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Armenia and Oman.

In relevant remarks last month, Zanganeh underlined ineffectiveness of the US sanctions on Iran's capability to export its crude, saying that pressures had backfired and accelerated development of his country's oil industry.

"We have shown in the oil exports sector that the US cannot zero our exports," Zanganeh said in Tehran.

He noted that from now on Iran will ink a new contract or inaugurate new installations in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries every other week, and said, "This shows that sanctions have failed to stop development of Iran's (oil) industry and our tempo has increased in developing oil, gas, refinery and petrochemical industries."

Zanganeh also declared a leap in the country's petrochemical industry, saying that the capacity to produce petrochemicals will surpass 100mln tons.

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