US sanctions on Tehran won’t affect Iraq-Iran oil deal: Minister

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Friday that Washington sanctions on Tehran would not affect the Iraqi-Iranian deal on swapping crude oil.

Luaibi’s speech came during a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) held to discuss oil production levels among the members of the organization.

Last year, Iraq agreed to transfer crude oil from Kirkuk oilfields to Iranian refineries in exchange for Iran delivering the same amount of oil to Iraq’s southern ports.

The crude currently shipped to Iran is being made in payment for electricity that Iraq has been receiving from Tehran, rather than as a crude swap, the Iraqi minister said.

“We have just started really small quantities for their refineries, not on a swap basis,” he told reporters.

Luaibi mentioned that he was confident that officials from key oil-producing countries would reach an agreement to increase oil output at their Friday meeting in Vienna.

Not long afterward, Reuters reported OPEC's announcement of a "modest increase in oil production from next month after its leader Saudi Arabia persuaded arch-rival Iran to cooperate, following calls from major consumers to help reduce the price of crude and avoid a supply shortage."

Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih had earlier told reporters that the OPEC members would discuss a proposal to boost output by about one million barrels per day.

US President Donald Trump has been lobbying the OPEC to help lowering oil prices internationally.

The increase by the international organization could partially undo a decrease agreed upon by members in late 2016 that helped to boost the price of oil by almost 50 percent.

Editing by John J. Catherine