Tehran has resumed its practice of ‘oil swaps’ with fellow Caspian Sea littoral states and is planning to triple volumes by the end of the year. Since resuming in August, Iran has taken delivery of an average 15,000 b/d from Turkmenistan but is eyeing more, alongside volumes from Azerbaijan and potentially Kazakhstan.
Recent crude shipments from Turkmenistan to Iran’s Neka port marked the first so-called swaps between Iran and a Caspian neighbor since 2012. These have been from Dragon Oil, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai state-firm ENOC, which operates the 100,000 b/d capacity Cheleken field (MEES, 12 May). (CONTINUED - 365 WORDS)
