12 January 2014, News Wires – Russia and Iran are nearing a deal that would see the former supply goods in exchange for oil from the sanctions-hit Middle Eastern energy powerhouse, a report claims.
The deal, which has been under discussion for some time, should it go ahead would see Iran lift its current crude exports by 50%, Reuters reported on Friday.
The news wire cited an Iranian and a trio of Russian sources as saying negotiations on the oil-for-goods deal are in the final stages.
“Good progress is being made at the moment with strong chances of success,” one Russian source told Reuters.
“We are discussing the details and the date of signing a deal depends on those details.”
It is not clear what goods Iran would receive in return for a mooted 500,000 barrels per day of crude.
Iran currently produces around 1 million bpd, half of what it used to produce before current sanctions were imposed by international powers, Reuters said.
The sanctions – from the US, UK and others – were put in place as an attempt to curb Iran’s perceived nuclear weapons programme. Tehran has always claimed its nuclear programme is for civilian use only.
An interim deal on the nuclear programme was reached between Iran and six other countries – US, UK and Russia amongst them – in Switzerland last November.