“China has not reduced its oil imports from Iran, but has increased it compared to last year,” SHANA quoted Mohsen Qamsari as saying on Saturday.
He added that India is the second major importer of Iranian oil, saying, “in addition to long-term contracts, Iran’s costumers buy oil in the form of spot packages. Therefore, we must wait until the end of the year to find out which country purchased the most [oil].”
"Iran has extended contracts with all of its costumers for the year 2012 and before the imposition of sanctions,” Qamsari said.
The Iranian official concluded that the sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic's oil sector by the West have had no effect on demand for Iranian crude and the country “has no problem exporting or selling crude oil in the current year.”
On January 23, the EU voted to impose an oil embargo on Iran and froze the Central Bank’s assets in an effort to up pressure on Tehran to suspend its nuclear energy program.
The decision followed the imposition of similar sanctions by the United States on the Iranian energy and financial sectors on New Year’s Eve over accusations that Tehran is seeking a military nuclear program.
Iran refutes the allegations, arguing that, as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
press tv/281
Publish Date: 28 April 2012 - 21:07
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Director General for International Affairs says China and India remain the major importers of crude oil from the Islamic Republic.