"In the coming 24 hours, 4 million barrels of crude oil will be loaded onto 3 tankers destined for Europe," Rokneddin Javadi, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company, was quoted as saying by the Shana news agency, Reuters reported.
"Of those 4 million barrels of crude, 2 million barrels are assigned to France's Total, and 2 million barrels have been bought by two companies in Russia and Spain," he added.
Earlier, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the country had finalized a deal with France’s Total to restart selling crude in the next few days and will also sign another one with Italy’s Eni, saying the new contracts will increase Iranian oil exports to Europe to more than 300,000 barrels per day.
On February 6, he said that the deal with French energy giant Total is going to take effect on February 16.
According to the contract, the French company will purchase 160,000 barrels of crude oil from Iran every day, he explained.
The minister also noted that Total has voiced enthusiasm for playing a role in the development of Iran’s South Azadegan oil field and the country’s LNG project, adding that Tehran will give the French firm the necessary information to let it carry out the studies and make a final decision.
Zanganeh then unveiled plans for a visit to Tehran by representatives from Italian energy company Eni S.p.A. in the near future to hammer out a deal for the purchase of 100,000 barrels per day of oil from Iran.
Moreover, Saras S.p.A., an Italian company engaged in oil refining, has called for the purchase of 60-70,000 barrels per day of crude from Iran, he added.
The new contracts that follow the implementation of a final nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) will raise the daily amount of Iran’s oil exports to Europe to more than 300,000 bpd, the minister went on to say.
The lasting nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), came into force on January 16 and terminated all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.