MP: Iran has ways to sell oil that our parliament doesn't know about

A member of Iran Parliament's energy commission Ghasem Saedi has discussed the country's oil and petrochemical sales policies and its violations in an interview with Trend.

"The parliament energy commission is following the current and future oil and energy policies. We're informed about previous methods, so the future planning will be done with consideration of past practices," he said.

Saedi said that the president, head of the parliament's energy committee and a representative from energy committee alongside some individuals from oil, foreign, interior and energy ministries are informed about the possible violations in the mentioned field.

Speaking about the sale of oil to legal entities, he said that the oil ministry occasionally offers to sell oil to such, for $50 a barrel, and keep the rest of the sale revenues. The oil ministry chooses the minimum price, and sometimes they find consumers that buy each barrel for $100. The rest depends on the market and individual communication.

Responding to a question about why the customers do not buy oil through the exchange, Saedi said that one of the ways to sell oil is to evade sanctions at the exchange but it's not the main solution, as Iran deals oil on the coasts of some countries as well.

"The oil that is located near India is being sold to the private or public Indian companies, so the sanctions can not affect the sale, and we receive cash. We can't close all the ways and sell oil through exchange," he explained.

There are existing problems with the transactions that Iran is trying to tackle.

"The US has influence everywhere in the world and many ships are sanctioned and their insurances have been canceled . If we reveal the name of our buyers and sellers, it would make things difficult," he said.

"The Americans are wondering how these vessels ship oil even under surveillance. These are confidential ways to sell oil. Some of these methods are unknown to the parliament," said Saedi.