The United States will help other countries to reduce their imports of Iranian oil on a case by case basis, a State Department official announced on Thursday.
According to Reuters, the official suggested that Washington plans to offer waivers to some allies as a way to reduce the negative impact from the renewed sanctions against Tehran.
President Donald Trump re-imposed sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from the 2015 deal that limited Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
A senior State Department official said on Monday that countries will need to reduce their oil imports from Iran to zero.
“Our focus is to work with those countries importing Iranian crude oil to get as many of them as possible down to zero by Nov. 4,” a State Department official told Reuters. “We are prepared to work with countries that are reducing their imports on a case by case basis.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Thursday stated that he is confident that Saudi Arabia and Russia are able to increase their crude oil production in order to stabilize the world oil market and compensate for supply losses caused by the renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran.
“We look at this as an opportunity for the OPEC members to fill this gap if you will,” Perry said at a press conference at the World Gas Conference in Washington.
“I am comfortable that Saudi Arabia is going to be able to increase their production to… 11 million barrels per day going forward, and that Russia will be able to increase their production, so the worldwide crude market does have some stability,” he added.
Perry said the United States remains ready to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the country’s emergency stockpiles, if necessary, but that at the moment “I wouldn’t recommend it.”
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