Iran is trying to skirt US and European sanctions by luring nations to buy its oil on highly advantageous credit terms, say officials in the industry.
Tehran has been offering a handful of potential customers in Asia, including India, 180 days of free credit, according to the officials. They estimate that each month of credit amounts to a discount of roughly $1.2 to $1.5 a barrel.
But Gulf-based officials and European traders said Tehran was struggling to find new customers despite its generous credit terms. Nations in the European Union, as well as Turkey, Japan, South Korea and China, have all announced hefty cuts in their purchases of Iranian oil.
Iran's marketing offer is the latest sign that its oil industry is struggling under the impact of the sanctions. Its move comes before crucial talks between Tehran and western countries to discuss the Islamic republic's nuclear programme.
PERSONAL REACTION:
What the Iran did was a good marketing strategy by giving the oil buyers easy credit or discount per purchase of their barrel. But it didn't attract any of the major oil buyers because of the issue that they are trying to build up a nuclear bomb which they denied and said that the nuclear plant if for their energy consumption. Tehran must negotiate properly with their major oil buyers to sell their barrels.
If I were in the position of the buyers I would buy the oil and save it for the future use. The discount is not a small amount but a big amount.
I recommend that the Iran if they cant sell any barrel or they have low sales they can save it and by the time the crisis of oil will rise they could sell their oil and sell it in a high price which countries would be forced to buy their Iranian oil because they are in need of oil. Nobody can resist it especially when they need it.
What the president of Iran said in the interview was
"We have as much hard currency as we need and the country will manage well, even if we don't sell a single barrel of oil for two or three years." but what he said in the earlier interview about the issue is that they denied it but what he said in the last interview is something that might contradict the denial of nuclear bomb attempt because I think he's guilty of the accusation.
