Minister Stresses High Demand for Iran’s Oil

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi dismissed effectiveness of the sanctions and restrictions imposed against Iran by the West, and stressed that there are always many customers for Iranian crude.

Speaking in Iran’s Northern province of Mazandaran, Qassemi said Iran’s crude oil has many customers, and added that despite imposing sanctions regime against Iran by the enemies, different methods are available for selling this important and strategic product while there are currently no problems facing the industry.

“Iran has between 17 to 2o percent of the world’s gas reserves and also between 12 to 15 percent of the world’s crude oil reserves. It also ranks first in terms of overall energy resources. The energy resources of some countries are not comparable with those of Iran,” he added.

The minister noted that in view of the current status of exploiting oil reserves, Iran will have oil for more than 100 years from now and there is no problem in this regard.

The Iranian minister further underscored that Iran is no longer dependent on foreigners in the oil industry sector due to the efforts of the Iranian engineers and experts.

Iran, which sits on the world’s second largest reserves of both oil and gas, is facing US sanctions over its civilian nuclear program.

Iranian officials have dismissed US sanctions as inefficient, saying that they are finding Asian partners instead. Several Chinese and other Asian firms are negotiating or signing up to oil and gas deals.