EU
sceptical Iran would cut off oil supplies
AFP
BRUSSELS
Petroleumworld.com 01 25 06
European Union Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said Tuesday
he doubted that Iran would cut oil exports in response to threatened
sanctions against it in the row over its nuclear plans.
"I really believe Iran will never use such a step,"
he said, adding that it "would be counter-productive"
for the Islamic republic, which earns a huge slice of its wealth
from selling crude oil.
Even if Tehran were to do so, the International Energy Agency
(IEA) would be able to order compensatory action, he said.
"If there will be a disruption IEA will call for a release
of security stocks," he added, noting that these had proved
to be sufficient in the case of Hurricane Katrina which devastated
the US Gulf coast last year.
The international crisis over Iran's nuclear programme escalated
when the Islamic republic resumed sensitive uranium enrichment
research on January 10, despite calls by European negotiators
to maintain a halt to such activities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is to hold an emergency
meeting on the crisis or February 2, and Western countries hope
to gather support for referring Iran to the UN Security Council
for possible sanctions.
Iran has issued veiled threats to withhold oil from world markets,
even though analysts say this is unlikely.
Iranian Economy Minister Davoud Danesh Jafari cautioned earlier
this month that any sanctions against his country could result
in a "crisis in the oil sector and especially a rise in prices."
AFP
01/24/06
Copyright
© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
Send
this story to a friend
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write
to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels
| 
