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Iran calls on Saudi to reconsider oil compensation offer

18 January 2012 03:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi on Tuesday called on Saudi Arabia to reconsider the offer to offset the potential Western embargo on Iran’s oil exports, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"We expect the countries in the Persian Gulf region, particularly Saudi Arabia, with which we have always called for the best relations, to avoid injudicious remarks," Salehi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.

On Monday, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told CNN that Saudi would be able to increase its oil output by over 2 million barrels per day if the West imposes sanctions on Iran’s oil exports.

"These are not friendly" remarks, Salehi said, urging the Saudi officials to reconsider their offer to compensate for the potential Western embargo on Iran’s oil exports.

Iran exports some 2.6 million barrels of oil per day (bpd), of which 500,000 bpd go to the European Union countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain, which respectively import about 25 percent, 13 percent and 10 percent of their oil from Iran.

On Sunday, Iran’s OPEC Governor Mohammad-Ali Khatibi warned against any crude boosts by Persian Gulf states to compensate for the potential Western embargo on Iran’s oil exports.

"If our southern neighbors collaborate with the adventurous states by substituting their oil for Iran’s oil," Tehran will consider such a "green light" to the West as an unfriendly gesture, Khatibi was quoted as saying.

Following a report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran’s nuclear program in November 2011, the United States, Britain and Canada announced new sanctions against Tehran and are still working to impose an embargo on Iran’s crude exports.

Western countries suspect that Iran’s nuclear program might have military dimensions, but Tehran rejects the claims and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.