Oil Swap Will Reach 500,000 bpd

Iran will swap 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day with the Caspian Sea littoral states once the third phase of a plan to barter and refine oil is completed, an official in charge of the project to transfer and refine Caspian crude oil said.

The third phase of the plan includes the construction, installation and operation of 4,000-cubic-meter balance tanks, pumps as well as other relevant equipment in oil transfer facilities, Public Relations Department of National Iranian Oil Engineering & Construction Company (NIOEC) quoted Ali Mohammadi as saying.

He added that the project has undergone a 77-percent progress and is planned to come on stream in the first quarter of the next Iranian year (to begin in March 2012), Presstv reported.

Mohammadi stated that the contractor, Petro Part Co., has invested more than $37 million in the project. Iran halted oil swaps with Caspian Sea littoral states in April 2010 after bartering their oil for 13 years. The then National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) officials noted that the measure was taken to avoid purchasing oil from Central Asian states.

In July 2011, NIOC Managing Director Ahmad Qale’bani announced the resumption of oil swaps with Caspian states, saying that the volume of oil swaps was being negotiated.

In September 2011, NIOC Director General for International Affairs Mohsen Qamsari announced that Tehran was planning to gradually boost the volume of oil swaps with Caspian Sea littoral states.
Iran imports oil from Central Asian countries for refining at Tehran and Tabriz oil refineries and then delivers the product to potential buyers at its Persian Gulf ports.

Iran is the second largest oil exporter within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).