Iran has started negotiations to buy shares in oil refineries in Europe, Latin America, and Asia, said Abbas Kazemi, head of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company.
“Buying the oil refineries or their shares abroad is the policy of Iran after the lifting of sanctions,” the Mehr news agency quoted Kazemi as saying on Tuesday.
Kazemi said that Tehran was in talks to buy a stake in India's Essar Oil.
He went on to say that the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) was willing to invest in plants to refine Iran's crude oil as that would be more economical for the country.
Iran, once OPEC’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, is seeking to clear space for its gradual return to the market after lifting of sanctions.
Western sanctions have cut Iran’s oil output to 2.7 million bpd from 3.9 million bpd.
Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has vowed to reclaim the country’s share of global crude oil exports within months of sanctions being lifted and said Tehran will move quickly to open the doors to international oil companies to help boost production.
Should sanctions be lifted, Iran’s oil exports would reach 2.3 million barrels, compared with around 1.2 million barrels a day today.