An Iranian deputy minister of petroleum says Iran will return to the global market with maximum capacity once the sanctions are lifted following Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers.
Addressing a gathering held at Central Bank of Iran on Tuesday, Mohsen Qamsari, director of international affairs at National Iranian Oil Company, said Iran views the Asian market as a top priority for selling its crude oil because of its proximity and geography.
"We will try to maximize our crude export capacity to Europe and restore 42 to 43% share in the European market before the sanctions were imposed," Qamsari was quotes by shana as saying.
He further said the issue of 2.5 to 3.5 million barrels of surplus supply in the market is a media hype which should not be taken seriously.
"I do not believe that we are entering a war of quotas," Qamsari said.
He added there are several refineries who have expressed willingness to buy Iran's petroleum supplies and therefore agreements should be reached with them.
"For the time being, I cannot say anything special about Iran's share in the market in the coming months. We shall wait and see how the market will react [to Iran's return]. Signature of long, middle and short-term contracts is definitely considered [by Iran]," the official said further.
He also underlined the ongoing NIOC talks with Shell, and said the talks concern upstream cooperation with the company and no discussions over pricing have so far been made with it.