“The mere announcement of the sanctions against Iran’s oil industry has led to an 18-percent hike in the oil prices in the global markets,” Qasemi said .
The senior Iranian oil official said despite the sanctions, the country has inked “new contracts with new customers.”
“Iran has no problem in exporting its oil,” he added.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that if Iranian oil supplies are disrupted, crude prices may spike by up to 30 percent, sending shockwaves through the global economy.
"Clearly it would be a shock to economies if there was a major shortage of exports of oil out of Iran [and] it would certainly drive up prices," IMF Director Christine Lagarde said on March 20.
Tehran decided to cut crude exports to certain European countries after EU foreign ministers agreed on January 23 to ban oil imports from Iran and freeze the assets of the country’s Central Bank across the EU.
Iran has already cut oil exports to France and Britain as part of its countersanctions.
Last month, crude prices reached a peak after Tehran’s decision to adopt the counter-sanction measures, pushing gasoline prices in the US and the UK to record highs.
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Publish Date: 19 April 2012 - 21:35
Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi says if the Western sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s oil sector are not lifted, world energy markets will face “serious challenges.”