Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Ahmad Ghalebani has dismissed France’s boycott of Iranian oil, saying: “Iran does not export crude oil to France.”
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero announced yesterday that France has imposed sanctions on Iranian crude oil.
He added that France has proposed further sanctions on Iran, and reports indicate the European Union is also considering imposing sanctions on Iranian crude.
A statistical report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) indicates that in 2010, France bought 2 percent of Iranian oil exports.
The French company Total, however, reported that in 2010 it purchased 123,000 barrels a day from Iran, which added up to 5.5 percent of Iran’s oil exports. In mid 2010, Total announced that it was halting the sale of refined products to Iran and would maintain only minimal trade with Iranian companies.
Ghalebani stated that Iran’s extensive oil and gas resources give it undeniable significance in the world energy market.
Responding to new Canadian sanctions on the sale of equipment for the oil and gas industry, Ghalebani claimed Iran does not import any Canadian products for its oil and gas sector.
A number of Western governments have imposed new sanctions on Iran, spurred on by a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which raised concerns about Iran’s nuclear program.
Britain has announced it will boycott all transactions with Iranian banks, including Iran’s Central Bank. The U.S. has boycotted the Iranian petrochemical industry, and Canada has also imposed sanctions on Iran’s energy sector.
