RUSSIA'S HELP TO IRAN

FT - Russia has vowed to help Iran counter US attempts to throttle its oil sales when sanctions come into effect next week, saying it will continue trading Tehran's crude in defiance of Washington.

The US will reimpose sanctions aimed at curbing Iranian oil exports from Monday and the Trump administration has warned Moscow against any actions that could help the Islamic Republic evade the measures.

But Russia is looking to "continue developing" its trading of Iranian oil, which it sells to third countries under a 2014 oil-for-goods deal, regardless of the sanctions, energy minister Alexander Novak told the Financial Times.

"We believe we should look for mechanisms that would allow us to continue developing co-operation with our partners, with Iran," Mr Novak said.

The ministry said it could "definitely confirm" the trade would continue next week.

The 2014 Russia-Iran deal allows for an increase in currently-traded volumes and Iran will be looking for additional buyers if some of its regular customers turn away when the sanctions take effect.

Mr Novak declined to comment on whether an increase in trading was likely, but said Russia would analyse the impact of the sanctions before making any decision on altering its volumes.

During a visit by president Donald Trump's hawkish national security adviser John Bolton to Moscow last week, US officials warned their Russian counterparts against attempting to assist Tehran in ways that would allow Iran to sell oil in international markets.

In May, the US announced its intention to reimpose sanctions to choke off Iran's oil exports.

Iran's crude shipments peaked at more than 2.5m barrels per day before the sanctions were announced, but exports fell to 1.7m bpd in October, according to data from tanker tracking firm Kpler.

While serving as a middle man could help Iran maintain exports, Russia would still need to find buyers.

In Tehran, analysts and business people predict that the country will continue to export at least 1m barrels per day after November 5, mostly to Asian countries that are willing to defy the sanctions or able to secure waivers from the US.

Fears of a major cut to Iranian exports helped to push oil prices to a four-year high of more than $86 a barrel last month, though prices have since eased as rival producers — including Russia and Saudi Arabia — have boosted supplies.

The 2014 deal between Russia and Iran uses a formerly dormant Soviet state enterprise, Promsyryoimport. The amount traded has been around 100,000 barrels a day of Iranian crude, according to both countries' ministers, though it is unclear who has bought the oil.

In exchange, Tehran uses the revenue to pay for Russian goods and services such as power generation, railway infrastructure or agricultural products.

"It gives Iran a guaranteed resource to pay, and that allows increasing trade," Mr Novak said in an interview in Moscow. "We have historical trade with Iran. Iran needs our technology and services."

Iran's oil minister Bijan Zanganeh told Iranian media earlier this year transactions with Russia are done in euros. A Russian ministry official told the FT that the transactions would not involve US dollars.

Mr Zanganeh said on Wednesday that he would "speak no word" about the country's future oil sales and denied reports Russia was ready to increase its assistance.

The US sanctions against Iran's oil industry are the most punitive measure to date following Mr Trump's decision to withdraw from a multilateral nuclear deal that granted Tehran sanctions relief.

Moscow's friendship with Iran, which involves co-operation in the war in Syria and regional trade ties, has grown in recent years as part of Russia's rising clout in the Middle East, despite the Kremlin's close relationship with bitter rivals Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Both Russia and Iran are part of a 24-country coalition between Opec and non-Opec oil producers to regulate their output to try and balance oil markets over the past two years.

Mr Novak said that the threat of US retaliation for handling Iranian crude did not concern Moscow.

"We already live in the conditions of sanctions," he said. "We do not recognise the sanctions introduced unilaterally without the United Nations, we consider those methods illegal per se."

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Earlier:

2018, October, 31, 13:10:00 IRAN - CHINA SPECIAL CONDITIONS PLATTS - China's Sinopec is in discussions with government authorities and suppliers regarding its Iranian crude imports and is trying to make special arrangements on the flow in the coming weeks, an executive said during the company's third quarter results briefing call

2018, October, 24, 11:25:00 IRAN'S OIL DOWN EIA - Iran's crude oil exports and production have declined since the May 2018 announcement by the United States that it would withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and reinstate sanctions against Iran.

2018, October, 22, 12:30:00 IRAN'S OIL REVENUES UP 25% SHANA - Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said the country’s petroleum revenues had exceeded expectations by 25 percent in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year which began on March 21.

2018, October, 17, 10:30:00 СОТРУДНИЧЕСТВО ИРАНА И РОССИИ МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - Александр Новак отметил, что Россия и Иран находятся в постоянном контакте, что способствует укреплению сотрудничества двух стран по всему спектру торгово-экономических отношений, в том числе в сфере энергетики.

2018, October, 8, 10:40:00 RUSSIAN - IRANIAN PROSPECTS SHANA - In sum, Iran and Russia know what to do under the current circumstances…We have good prospects for cooperation. The five committees that were set up between Iran and Gazprom met in Tehran and drew up minutes. Committees and their members were identified, and now there is a relationship between the two countries in terms of technology transfer. Gazprom is interested in investing in Iran's oil and gas sector.

2018, August, 27, 14:15:00 U.S. - IRAN SANCTIONS REUTERS - The lawsuit filed with the ICJ says the U.S. sanctions, which are damaging the already weak Iranian economy, violate terms of a little-known friendship treaty between the two countries.

2017, December, 15, 13:05:00 GAZPROM - IRAN COOPERATION GAZPROM - Alexey Miller and Ali Kardor, Iran’s Deputy Minister of Petroleum, CEO of National Iranian Oil Company, inked a Roadmap. Pursuant to the document, Gazprom will conduct a proof-of-concept study with regard to implementing integrated projects for hydrocarbon production, transmission and processing, including petrochemistry, in Iranian territory. Русский | English