ByCharles Kennedy– Feb 05, 2025, 8:30 AM CST
Unilateral sanctions against major oil-producing countries are threatening global oil and energy market stability and hurt consumers globally, Iran’s Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said on Wednesday.
Paknejad was speaking during talks with OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais a day after U.S. President Donald Trump restored the “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran with the aim to drive its oil exports to zero.
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“Paknejad stated that depoliticizing the oil market is critical for energy security, particularly for the oil market and its stakeholders,” Shana, the news service of Iran’s oil ministry, reported.
Paknejad, who will chair the OPEC Conference in 2025, also warned that unilateral sanctions and pressure on OPEC destabilize oil and energy markets.
The comments from the Iranian minister came hours after President Trump restored the “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran via a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM).
In the memo, President Trump directed the Secretary of State to modify or rescind sanctions waivers, particularly those that provide Iran any degree of economic or financial relief, including those related to Iran’s Chabahar port project.
The Secretary of State shall also “implement a robust and continual campaign, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury and other relevant executive departments or agencies, to drive Iran’s export of oil to zero, including exports of Iranian crude to the People’s Republic of China,” per the presidential memorandum.
The “maximum pressure” campaign wasn’t unexpected, considering that President Trump has said he would pursue such a policy with Iran.
The Islamic Republic has managed in recent years to increase its oil exports, to six-year highs in the summer of 2024.
Despite U.S. sanctions currently in place on the Iranian oil industry and exports, the Islamic Republic continues to export an estimated more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, mostly to China, whose independent refiners have continued to buy the cheaper Iranian barrels since President Trump first imposed the sanctions in 2018 during his previous term in office.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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