Iran to sell more than 300,000 bpd to Europe

Iran is planning to sell more than 300,000 barrels a day of oil to Europe following the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions, the country’s oil minister has said.

Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Saturday that Iran signed a deal with France’s Total to restart selling oil in the next few days, according to Tasnim News Agency.

Total will purchase 160,000 barrels of oil per day from the country and has expressed an interest in the development of Iran’s South Azadegan oil field, as well as LNG related projects, the news agency said.

Representatives from Italian energy companies Eni and Saras are also expected to visit Tehran in the near future to negotiate deals worth 100,000 bpd and 60-70,000 bpd respectively.

The new deals will raise Iran’s oil exports to the continent to more than 300,000 barrels per day, the minister said.

Before sanctions, Iran exported up to 800,000 bpd to European companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Eni, Hellenic Petroleum and Spain’s Repsol.

Hellenic signed a new long-term deal with Iran in January following the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions by world powers. The company also reached an agreement to return up to $650m to the country it could not repay while sanctions were in effect.

Iran is hoping to boost its overall exports by 500,000 in the coming months, with some 200,000 expected to go to Asian countries including India.