Tehran, Feb 20 (AFP) Tehran will cut oil exports to more EU nations if they remain "hostile," the deputy oil minister who heads Iran's state oil company said today, a day after sales were halted to France and Britain. Exports to Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands would be stopped, Ahmad Qalebani said, quoted by Mehr news agency. "Certainly if the hostile actions of some European countries continue, the export of oil to these countries will be cut," said Qalebani, who runs the National Iranian Oil Company. He added: "In the current market situation, the price per barrel (of oil) will probably reach USD 150." Qalebani also said any country wanting Iranian oil would be required to sign "longterm contracts". European companies, he said, would be held to "two- to five-year contracts with no preconditions." Iran exports about 20 per cent of its crude -- some 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) -- to the European Union, most of which goes to Italy, Spain and Greece. Today, the oil ministry announced it had halted exports to France and Britain. That was in apparent retaliation for an EU-wide ban on Iranian oil that is to come fully into effect July 1 as part of Western sanctions against Tehran's nuclear programme. Although the ministry's measure was largely symbolic -- France imports only around three percent of its oil from Iran, and Britain less than one per cent -- prices for the black stuff soared on fears Tehran could expand its cuts to other European nations. (MORE) AFP
