TEHRAN (TCA) — Iran says it will soon resume a scheme to swap crude oil of Caspian states with its own oil in Persian Gulf ports. The scheme has been halted since 2010, Iran’s PressTV news agency reported on August 17.
Pirouz Mousavi, the managing director of the Northern Oil Terminals Company of Iran (NOTCI), told reporters that Iran will in the first phase resume swapping at least 100,000 barrels per day of Caspian crude within the next month, stressing that the volume will increase in the future.
Mousavi added that Russia and Kazakhstan have voiced readiness to proceed with delivering their crude to Iran in its northern terminals and receive equal volumes in the south.
He said talks with other littoral countries over the project are underway, stressing that European oil companies active in Central Asia are interested in using the swap scheme with Iran to sell their oil to international markets.
Based on a multiple-year arrangement sealed with Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, Iran imported an average of 100,000-barrels per day (bpd) of crude into its Caspian ports and in return supplied equivalent volumes on behalf of its partners to their clients in the Persian Gulf. Iran would then use the oil it imported at its Caspian ports in its northern refineries and distribute the products in northern Iran.
The scheme was halted in 2010 after Iran raised its operating fees.
