950815

Iran seeks

market for

200,000 barrels

of oil

NICOSIA: Iran has found markets for all but 200,000 barrels of its oil since the United States banned American companies from doing business with the Islamic Republic, an Iran oil ministry source said.

The Iran news agency IRNA late on Monday quoted the source as saying there were no plans to decrease output as a result of the ban but Iran would store oil until buyers could be found.

Oil traders say Iran has to find new buyers for an estimated 600,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) that US firms previously lifted before the ban, which took effect in June.

Iranian crude is mainly being carried into European markets unsold and its price has slipped against the benchmark Brent.

Oil industry sources estimate Iran in July produced below its Organisation of Pteroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota of 3.6 million bpd.

The oil ministry source told IRNA that Iran has found buyers in Europe and Asia after the ban, which Washington imposed after alleging Iran supported terrorism and sought nuclear weapons, charges Tehran has repeatedly denied.

He said Japan purchases between 400,000 to 500,000 bpd of Iranian crude and that reports that Tokyo and South Korea have decided to drop imports as a result of the ban were false.

The ban also pushed Iran, OPEC's second largest producer, to increasignly resourt to the international shipping market. Before the embargo, US firms used their own tankers or leased vessels to transport Iran's crude from Iranian terminals.

Iran's National Iranian Tanker Co. has increased its presence in the tanker chartering market but the source "brushed aside" reports that Iran was using oil tankers to shore oil, IRNA reported. He said Iran had always stored part of its oil in either Europe or Latin America and that a new plan to store oil in South Africa was not in response to the US ban.-Reuter