Iran Ready To Replace Iraq In World Oil Market : Official

Tehran, July 12, IRNA – Deputy Oil Minister for International and Trade Affairs Ali Majedi voiced Iranˈs readiness to speedily replace Iraq oil in world market if Baghdad was forced to stop its exports due to security crisis. He told IRNA on Saturday that Iran could replace Iraq oil in world market in a short time if Baghdad is to stop its oil exports because of the growing insecurity and increasing terrorist operations. He said there are certainly no doubts about Iranˈs capabilities to do so. Majedi noted that at the present conditions Iran is capable of increasing its oil output to 4 million barrels per day in a time span of six months to meet the market demands. He said Iran is after getting its due share of the world energy market. The world is now realizing that Iran is certainly the most secure and stable country in the region to feed the market with its needed amount of energy. In recent weeks, the terrorist Daesh group backed by certain regional countries has got the rule over extensive areas in west and northwest of Iraq, he noted, adding that this has caused anxiety over dominating Iraqi oil fields which are mainly situated in southern provinces that could lead to cut in oil exports./end