TEHRAN (Iran News) –Oil Minister Javad Owji has expressed satisfaction over Tehran’s recent signing of “very good” agreements in the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil industry with the three Latin American nations of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua.
Speaking to reporters after a cabinet session on Wednesday, Owji said the Iranian administration of President Ebrahim Raisi has started cooperating with the three Latin American states in the export of crude oil and gas condensates since its inauguration some two years ago.
He added that Iran has exported more than 3.8 million oil and gas products to the Venezuelan refineries.
“This country (Venezuela) has the largest oil reserves in the world and has a refinery capacity of more than one million barrels” but most of its capacities have not been used due to the sanctions, he emphasized.
Owji noted that Iranian specialists in the oil industry have succeeded in restoring some parts of the capacity.
He said Iran and Venezuela have no financial payment, and the fuel trade is done through barter deals, adding, “We had a win-win game with Venezuela.”
The Iranian minister also commended the good measures taken in Cuba to barter oil with drugs and said Tehran began to restore Cuba’s refinery capacity.
Owji, the cruel sanctions and the withdrawal of experts had reduced the refining capacity of Venezuela and Cuba.
He pointed out a recent visit to several Latin American countries, during which good contracts were signed in the field of the Ministry of Oil.
He also pointed to contracts signed to activate knowledge-based companies in oil and gas sectors, concluding that the Ministry of Petroleum has paved the way for the private sector’s overseas activity.
Owji accompanied President Raisi in his groundbreaking tour of the three Latin American nations earlier this month.
During the visit, Iranian and Venezuelan ministers and other top officials signed a total of 19 cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding.
The agreements are aimed at expanding cooperation between Tehran and Caracas in many areas, including in the field of petrochemicals, as the two sides move to expand overall cooperation in the oil sector.
