TEHRAN: Asian imports of Iranian crude oil rose from a year ago in June, the last month before a landmark agreement that will eventually lead to more exports from the country was reached on Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme.

Imports by Iran’s four biggest buyers — China, India, Japan and South Korea — totalled 1.17 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, up more than 13 per cent from a year earlier, government and tanker-tracking data showed.

Iran is keen to recover market share that evaporated under US and European Union sanctions designed to keep its exports at around 1m bpd, down from 2.5m bpd in 2011.

Under the accord reached in Vienna on July 14, Iran will be subject to longer-term restrictions on its nuclear programme in return for the removal of US, UN and European sanctions.

The restrictions are to be removed next year if the deal is approved by the US Congress and inspectors confirm that Iran is in compliance with the limits to its nuclear activities.

Iran, however, has already outlined plans to rebuild its main industries and trade relationships, saying last week it was targeting oil and gas projects with foreign partners worth $185 billion by 2020.

It would take around $100bn to return Iran’s oil industry to the level of five years ago, Industry Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said in an interview published in Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2015

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