'Oil buyers victims of EU Iran sanctions'
Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Peter Voser
Royal Dutch Shell chief executive says oil consumers are the losers in the European Union's game to impose sanctions on Iran's oil sector, saying the embargo will increase global oil prices.
“From a purely commercial perspective, the losers are consumers because at the end of the day, it gives us more volatility and upwards pressure on the oil price,” Peter Voser told the annual World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday.
He also said that his company needs time to examine details of the EU Iran embargo.
“We are a European company and therefore we are affected by the sanctions and we will obviously oblige and implement the sanctions. I need to study all the details in order to see how it goes forward in the next few months.”
Shell was among the group of international oil companies that stopped selling refined petroleum to Iran in March 2010 following the US-led campaign to impose tougher UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
In their latest meeting in Brussels on January 23, EU foreign ministers imposed new sanctions on Iran which include a ban on purchasing oil from the country, a freeze on the assets of Iran's Central Bank within the EU, and a ban on the sale of diamonds, gold and other precious metals to Iran.
Iran has refuted the allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran has a right to use nuclear technology for peaceful use.
YH/AZ/MA
