Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told press on Monday that the oil market doesn’t have the spare capacity to replace Iranian oil in case of U.S. re-imposition of sanctions on the country.
“As I have repeatedly said there is no replacement for Iranian oil in the market. Saudi Arabia and Russia’s output is near their highest level ever and they have no spare capacity to pump more to replace Iran’s Oil Minister was quoted as saying.
The United States plans to impose new sanctions on Iran’s oil sector from November 4 in a bid to curb Iranian involvement in conflicts in Syria and Iraq and bring Tehran to the negotiating table over its ballistic missile program.
Iran has repeatedly said that its oil exports cannot be reduced to zero because of high demand levels in the market. Under sanctions, Iran’s oil exports could fall by as much as two-thirds, straining oil markets.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also added that his country country will manage to abort anti-Iran sanctions by the United States. According to the Iranian minister, Britain, France and Germany, three European signatories to the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, have made commitments and proposals despite some unresolved technical details.
Oil prices, have remained below USD 80 a barrel on bigger than expected supply from US. While the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed in June to boost supply to make up for expected Iran disruptions, an internal document reviewed by Reuters suggested that OPEC is struggling to add barrels to the market as an increase in Saudi Arabian supply was offset by declines in Iran, Venezuela and Angola.
