Alwaght- Iran has begun selling oil in the national Energy Bourse today.
The oil is sold to the domestic and foreign buyers and there is no limitation on how much can be bought by any trader.
The move comes as a strategy to dodge the upcoming ban on Iranian oil sales in the international markets by the US, expected to take effect in early November.
Buyers were able to purchase as much as 280,000 barrels of Iran’s light oil at an average price of $74.85 in the first day of trading, according to a report by Iran’s state news agency IRNA.
They would have to pay 20 percent of the total value of their purchases in Iran’s national currency – the Rial. The remaining payments would need to be made in foreign currencies after loading, according to Iran’s broadcaster Press TV.
Reports emanating from the trading session have said that the price was closed at $79.15 for each barrel.
Oil supply to the home market will be once a week, for now, Sayyed Ali Husseini, managing director of Energy Bourse, said.
The US President Donald Trump administration is planning to impose the second wave of sanctions on Iran on November 6. The first wave was imposed in early May after Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal Tehran signed in 2015 with world powers— the US, China, Russia, Germany, Britain, France, citing Iran’s regional role as the main cause.
Tehran responded that his argument is simply a “ruse”, adding while Iran is present in Syria and Iraq at the behest of their national governments to fight terrorism, the US deployed forces to the two nations uninvited.
His withdrawal from the international agreement drew reactions from the signatories, with all of them said they will work to keep the accord alive.
Trump officials have been lobbying lately to bring on board as many implementers as possible to the expected embargo. But their efforts appear to be going nowhere as two major customers of Iran’s oil China and India, to Trump administration’s chagrin, said they will keep receiving oil from Tehran.
Last week, India signed a contract with Tehran to buy 9 million barrels of oil right after the ban begins.
