No Iranian oil sold to Shell Company

After sanctions against Iran and its oil industry, the situation in the world's oil markets is "chaotic" Mehr news agency reports Iran's oil minister as saying.

Earlier Reuters reported that the National Iranian Tanker Company's (NITC) oil tanker "Delvar" docked at Singapore's Bukom Island to sell crude oil for the Royal Dutch Shell Company's refinery on Bukom Island which has the capacity to produce 500,000 barrels of oil a day.

In other comments today, Rostam Ghasemi said Iran didn't want to harm the people of France and Britain with its decision to stop oil exports to the two countries in the middle of winter. If there was any way to continue working with the two European countries, who have led the effort to sanction Iran, Iran would have been happy to do so.

The minister said plans to nearly double Iran's petrochemical production from 54 million to 100 million tons a year are part of the country's strategy to become the world's leading producer of petrochemical products.

The U.S and EU recently imposed tougher sanctions against Iran. They have embargoed Iran's oil industry and petroleum products and the U.S. is pressuring other countries to stop doing business with Iran. In late January, the EU's foreign ministers agreed to stop buying oil from Iran after current contracts run out by July 1.

The West's measures are part of an effort to make Iran answer questions about its nuclear program which it says is peaceful and civilian in nature while the U.S. and its allies contend it is not.

Earlier, Iran announced that it cut selling oil to France and the UK.


/Trend/