Iran: Ahmadinejad Admits Problems In Oil Exports

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Iran has “some problems” to sell its oil because of Western sanctions, admitted Tuesday President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, adding that authorities “are trying to resolve” this problem. During a television interview, the Iranian president has downplayed the impact of the economic sanctions imposed by the West on Iran over its controversial nuclear program, saying a lot of information about it falls within a “psychological warfare.”

“But there are some problems to sell oil, as well as obstacles to repatriate money (from oil exports) and we try to resolve this,” the Iranian leader added.

Iranian authorities have consistently denied in recent months the oil embargo declared in January by the United States and the European Union has had a significant impact on exports and production in Iran. “Everything is almost normal, we see nothing unusual (in oil exports from Iran),” asserted Monday Tehran’s representative to OPEC Mohammad Khatibi, who was quoted by the ISNA news agency.

According to estimates by the International Energy Agency (IEA), however, Iran’s exports have plummeted in July to 1 million barrels / day against 1.7 Mb / d in June and more than 2 Mb / d at the beginning of the year.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on its part that the collapse in exports had led to a fall in upstream production to 2.8 million barrels / day against 3.5 Mb / d in last year, i.e. the lowest figure for over 20 years, which has relegated Iran for the first time to third place, behind Iraq.

Al Bawaba News

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