Iran’s media are reporting that the US administration has given an authorization to the country’s oil clients to continue purchasing crude oil beyond the ceiling that had been imposed as a result of sanctions.
Mehr News Agency says the US Treasury and State departments in a recently published have ensured that Tehran's oil customers can continue to purchase Iranian crude during an interim period before the terms of what Iran and P5+1 agreed on in Vienna last month can be fully implemented and sanctions lifted.
Both departments in the guidance that was originally brought to the spotlight by Argus Media publication have emphasized that Washington will not impose sanctions on financial institutions in those countries. And the US will not target non-US companies that help facilitate those purchases, it was further reported.
During the nuclear negotiations, Iran's oil exports have been limited to 1mn-1.1 million barrels per day (mbpd), down from 2.5 mbpd before the sanctions were imposed in 2012. Six countries — China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey — buy oil from Iran.
Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh had earlier emphasized that Iran is ready to increase its oil production by at least 0.5 mbpd as soon as the sanctions against Iran are lifted.
Zangeneh also said he had told OPEC to make room for the extra Iranian oil supplies, stressing that Tehran wants to regain the market share it lost as the result of the US-engineered sanctions.
Iran and the P5+1 group of countries — the US, Britain, France, China, Russia plus Germany — announced in Vienna on July 14 that they had agreed over the removal of economic sanctions against Iran in return for certain steps by the country to limit its nuclear energy activities.
A crucial part of the sanctions concern those that ban purchases of oil from Iran beyond a ceiling of 1-1.5 mbpd as well as those that ban investments in Iran’s oil industry.
