Iran Receives $4B Oil Dues From UAE Co.

EghtesadOnline: Iran has received more than $4 billion from the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) as part of the country’s retailer’s settlement of its debts owed to Iran for pre-sanction oil and gas purchases, the Iranian news website Al Alam reported.

News ID: ۷۷۶۶۶۱

31 May 2017

The Supreme Audit Court of Iran, which also monitors the Oil Ministry’s payments to the treasury, said that the Central Bank of Iran had received the $4.1 billion as part of ENOC debts related to the purchase of gas condensate, the website said Sunday, Al-Jazeera reported.

Last year the Oil Ministry confirmed that international oil companies had started paying their dues for pre-sanction oil purchases.

Debtors include the UAE’s ENOC, Anglo Dutch energy giant Shell, Greece’s Hellenic Petroleum and Italy’s Saras. Banking restrictions had previously prevented the companies from transferring money  to Iran, according to Financial Tribune.

Iran reentered the global economy in January 2016 following years of international sanctions, after the UN announced the country had complied with the terms of a landmark deal in July 2015 aimed at scaling down its nuclear program.

The agreement signed between Tehran and the six world powers (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) facilitated Iran’s access to more than $50 billion in long-frozen assets and freedom to sell oil and trade in the international market.

Iran, the No. 3 OPEC producer, exports more than 2.5 million barrels per day of crude oil, mostly to traditional customers in Asia, including China, India, South Korea and Japan.