Iran’s oil output cannot be replaced by other producing countries if Tehran is hit by sanctions by the United States in November, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told the ministry’s website Shana on Monday.
“As I have often said, there is no replacement for Iranian oil in the market. Saudi Arabian and Russian output is near their highest levels ever and they have no spare capacity to pump more to replace Iran’s oil,” he said, Reuters reported.
Washington is pushing allies to cut imports of Iranian oil to zero and will impose a new round of sanctions on Iranian oil sales early next month.
But Iran, OPEC’s third-largest producer, has repeatedly said that its oil exports cannot be reduced to zero because of high demand in the market and has blamed US President Donald Trump for an oil price rally caused by the sanctions on Tehran.
“The market’s knowledge of this inability has raised prices as the average price of crude ... oil prices had slowed down the economic growth of most of the consumer countries, which is affecting the global economy,” he said.
The market and rising prices are the best evidence of concern that the market is nervous about the severe shortage of oil in the coming months, the minister said.
NIOC has already dismissed claims by Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, that the kingdom is prepared to make up for any oil market shortfall caused by US sanctions on Iran.
"It seems that such remarks were made under US pressure on Saudi authorities," Zanganeh said."In reality, neither the Saudis nor any other country can replace Iran's exports," S&P Global quoted him as saying last week.