Egypt’s Minister of Oil has rejected statements made yesterday by his Iranian counterpart that Iran and Egypt are entering oil negotiations.
Reuters reports that Egyptian Oil Minister Osama Kamal said: “All that has been published on negotiations being held for Egypt to buy Iranian oil is completely devoid of truth.”
Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Ghassemi announced yesterday that Iran is involved in oil negotiations with Egypt but he gave no further details.
Earlier this month, Kamal had told the state-owned Al-Ahram daily that Cairo had “no objection” to buying Iranian oil and processing it in its refineries.
U.S. and EU sanctions on the Iranian petroleum sector have led to a significant fall in Iran’s oil exports.
Iran has announced on several occasions that it is negotiating with potential new customers for its crude exports.
The International Energy Agency has announced that it observed a slight rise in Iran’s oil exports in August, despite the general fall in recent months.
The IEA reports that there has been a slight increase in oil exports to Turkey and Malaysia, adding that China, South Korea and India will also increase their oil import from Iran in September.
The report indicates, however, that in view of new EU and U.S. sanctions on Iran, the rising trend will only be temporary.
The Islamic Republic says the international sanctions will not have their intended effect of forcing Iran to halt its nuclear program, which it insists is entirely peaceful.
