Page 8 - MEOG Week 18 2022

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

Iran looks to new avenues

as nuclear talks stall

IRAN AS the chances of resuscitating the Joint Com- for extra-heavy crude oil from the Orinoco River
prehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) appear to belt, under a swap agreement with NITC’s parent
grow slimmer by the day, Tehran is courting company, National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC), last
alternative political ties as a means to bring eco- autumn. It took delivery of at least three cargoes,
nomic opportunity. each containing 1.85-2.00mn barrels, between
This week, Minister of Petroleum Javad September and November of 2021.
Owji travelled to Venezuela to visit oil facili-
ties and sign energy co-operation deals, while Saudi relations
Iraq’s Prime Minister said that Tehran and long- Also this week, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa
time foe Saudi Arabia are working towards an al-Kadhimi was quoted by the country’s Al-Sa-
understanding. bah newspaper as saying that Tehran and Riyadh
After arriving in Caracas over the weekend, are working towards a mutual understanding on
Owji made an official visit to the presidential pal- improving bilateral relations.
ace where he met with President Nicolas Maduro “The brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Ara-
to discuss ways to “overcome” the impact of bia and the Islamic Republic are dealing with
US-backed sanctions. the dialogue file with high responsibility and
He was given a tour of state oil firm PdVSA’s the requirements of the current situation in the
Paraguana refinery in the west of Venezuela and region, and we are confident that the under-
met with the company’s president Asdrubal standing will soon be reached, God willing,”
Chavez with the intention of signing oil sector al-Kadhimi said.
collaboration deals, though none have yet been He added: “There is a real and wide break-
made public. through in the relations between all the countries
Owji also met Venezuelan Oil Minister of the region, supported by a firm conviction and
Tareck El Aissami, with the Oil Ministry report- sound intentions that the future of the region
ing that the two had discussed “the construction depends on starting to view it as a system of con-
of routes and mechanisms to overcome the uni- verging and not intersecting interests and this
lateral coercive measures imposed by the United system cannot devote itself to economic con-
States government and allied countries”. struction and catch up with global development
In late January, PdVSA was reported to have without solving its problems and zeroing out its
taken delivery of around 2mn barrels of Iranian crises.”
gas condensate transported by the National Ira- The Prime Minister noted that Baghdad’s
nian Tanker Co. (NITC) “good relations with the two parties” which ena-
The Venezuelan company began receiving ble the country to “create a positive dialogue on
Iranian condensate, which it uses as a blendstock Iraqi soil”.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 18 04•May•2022